stamverandering

Stamverandering is a linguistic term used in Dutch to describe changes in the stem of a word that occur when it is inflected, most commonly in the past tense and past participle forms. It reflects a broader Germanic pattern known as ablaut, in which the vowel of the word’s stem changes according to grammatical form. In Dutch, stamverandering is primarily a feature of strong and mixed verbs, while weak verbs tend to have regular, stable stems.

In practice, stamverandering means that the stem vowel shifts between present and past forms, and sometimes also in other inflected forms. Common Dutch examples include: vinden (to find) with ik vind and hij vindt in the present, maar vond in the past, resulting in past participle gevonden; lopen (to walk) with loop in the present and liep in the past, gepast as gelopen; zingen (to sing) with zing in the present and zong in the past, gezongen as the past participle; eten (to eat) with eet in the present and at in the past, gegeten as the past participle; gaan (to go) with ga in the present and ging in the past, gegaan as the past participle; houden (to hold) with houd in the present and hield in the past, gehouden as the past participle. Other verbs, such as blijven (to stay) with blijf/bleef and gebleven as the past participle, illustrate related irregular patterns.

The phenomenon is less common in modern regular Dutch speech than in older or more conservative verb classes, but it remains an important part of the system of irregular verbs. It is primarily discussed in the context of Dutch strong and mixed verbs and is related to similar stem alternations found in other Germanic languages.

See also: ablaut, Dutch verb conjugation, strong verbs, mixed verbs.