sliepen

Sliepen is the simple past tense form of the Dutch verb slapen, meaning to sleep. It is used with plural subjects and contrasts with the singular past tense form sliep.

In Dutch, the infinitive is slapen and the present tense is slaap-en. The past tense has two forms: the singular past is sliep (for ik sliep, jij sliep, hij/zij sliep, u sliep), while the plural past is sliepen (wij sliepen, jullie sliepen, zij sliepen). The past participle is geslapen, used with helping verbs to form perfect tenses (bijvoorbeeld: wij hebben geslapen).

Usage notes: Sliepen appears mainly in the simple past tense describing past actions involving more than one subject. For a single subject, the appropriate form is sliep (e.g., hij sliep). In narrative, reported speech, or historical writing, sliepen can surface to indicate that several people slept or were asleep in the past.

Example sentences:

- Gisteren sliepen wij tot laat.

- Toen het begon te regenen, sliepen zij snel in.

- Hij sliep vroeg. (singular past)

Etymology and related forms: The verb slapen belongs to the Germanic family of languages and exhibits an irregular past tense pattern, with a stem vowel change from a to ie in the singular and plural past forms. Sliepen is a standard, widely recognized form in contemporary Dutch, tied to plural subjects.