vertrouwde

Vertrouwde is a Dutch word that functions as the simple past tense form of the verb vertrouwen, meaning to trust or to rely on. It denotes that trusting occurred at a point in the past and can be used with various subjects depending on the sentence.

In the imperfect tense, the verb vertrouwen conjugates as: ik vertrouwde, jij vertrouwde, hij/zij vertrouwde; wij vertrouwden; jullie vertrouwden; zij vertrouwden. The form vertrouwde appears for singular subjects (ik, jij, hij/zij), while the plural past forms are vertrouwden. The same verb is also used in other tenses with related meanings, such as trusting again or continuing to trust.

Usage examples include: Ik vertrouwde op mijn intuïtie tijdens de beslissing. Zij vertrouwde op haar team om het project op tijd te voltooien. In these sentences, vertrouwde conveys that trust was placed in the past, often in relation to a person, a judgment, or a source of information.

Etymology and related forms: Vertrouwen comes from the Dutch heritage of the verb to trust and is cognate with German vertrauen and English trust. The word connects to a family of verbs and nouns in Dutch that express faith, confidence, and reliance. The past participle Vertrouwd is used in other grammatical constructions to describe something that is trusted or reliable, while vertrouwde remains the simple past form described above.

Overall, vertrouwde is a common, clearly inflected form used to describe past acts of trust in Dutch, reinforcing the language’s system of tense and aspect for expressing reliance on people, evidence, or instincts.