gespinnen

Gespinnen is a form that can appear in discussions of the Dutch verb spinnen, which means to spin. In standard contemporary Dutch, the past participle of spinnen is gesponnen, and this form is used to construct perfect tenses (for example: ik heb gesponnen, de draad is gesponnen). The form gespinnen is not part of the standard conjugation and is generally considered dialectal, archaic, or a nonstandard variant.

Historically, Dutch has several regional spellings and inflected forms, and oppervlaktsklassen of verbs often show variant participles in older texts. In modern usage, gesponnen is the recognized past participle, while gespinnen may appear in dialect writing or as a mistaken form taught in some contexts. Dictionaries of Dutch standard language typically note gespinnen as nonstandard or dialectal when it appears at all.

Beyond its literal meaning, spinnen can also be used figuratively in Dutch, meaning to tell a story or to fabricate a tale—“een verhaal spinnen.” In such figurative uses, the past participle remains gesponnen when forming compound tenses (een verhaal is gesponnen, het verhaal is gesponnen).

In summary, gespinnen is not the standard past participle of spinnen in modern Dutch; gesponnen is. Gespinnen may be encountered as a dialectal or historical variant or as a misusage, but for formal writing and standard language, gesponnen is correct. Spinning as a craft and the related idiom of spinning a tale are notable facets of the term’s usage.