verraste

Verras­te is the simple past tense form of the Dutch verb verrassen, meaning to surprise or astonish someone. It is used to describe past events in which someone caused another person or group to feel surprised.

Grammatical notes: The infinitive of the verb is verrassen and the past participle is verrast. In the simple past, the singular forms are verraste for ik, jij, and hij/zij/het. The plural past forms are verrasten for wij, jullie, and zij. The form verraste is commonly found in narrative text, while verrast (the past participle) is used with have/has in perfect tenses, as in ik heb verrast.

Etymology and usage: Verrassen is formed with the prefix ver- added to a base related to surprise, and the past tense verraste follows regular Dutch conjugation patterns for weak verbs. The word is used with a direct object, for example: Ik verraste mijn vriend met een onverwacht cadeau. You can also say: Gisteren verraste hij alle gasten met zijn grap.

Examples: Gisteren verraste de chef iedereen met een nieuw dessert. De presentatie verraste het publiek door de onverwachte wending. These sentences illustrate how verraste functions to convey a completed act of surprising someone in the past.

See also: verrassen, verrast, past tense in Dutch, Dutch conjugation.