klopt

Klopt is the third-person singular present tense form of the Dutch verb kloppen. The base verb kloppen has several related meanings, most commonly “to knock or strike” and, in a figurative sense, “to be correct or to correspond.” Because kloppen is a versatile verb, klopt appears in a variety of expressions and grammatical constructions.

The primary senses of kloppen include physical knocking and factual agreement. In the sense of knocking, the verb is used with an indirect object or a prepositional phrase, as in iemand klopt aan de deur (“someone is knocking at the door”). In the sense of being correct, the phrase dat klopt is widely used in conversation and writing to indicate agreement with a statement or alignment with data, as in Dat klopt. The sense of accuracy can also apply to numbers, times, or plans, for example De cijfers kloppen niet means “the figures don’t add up,” or Klopt het met de afspraak? meaning “Does this align with the appointment?”

Etymology traces kloppen to the Dutch verb kloppen, historically associated with striking or beating, and the figurative development to “fitting” or “matching.” The form klopt is used across the Dutch-speaking world, including the Netherlands and Flanders, in both formal and informal contexts. Beyond its finite form, the participle geklopt exists and is used in compound tenses in contexts such as op de deur geklopt (knocked on the door) or de waarheid is geklopt in certain stylistic registers.