Expressing Ongoing Action
Expressing Ongoing Action
Dutch has no continuous tense, but it has four ways to say something is under way — aan het, zitten te, bezig zijn met and liggen te — and each says something extra that the English '-ing' form leaves out.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
aan het + infinitive is the neutral progressive
Ik ben aan het werken.
I'm working.
zijn + aan het + infinitive is the closest equivalent to the English progressive and the only one that adds no extra information. It cannot take a direct object in strict usage — Ik ben de brief aan het schrijven is common in speech but frowned on in careful writing, where you would say Ik ben een brief aan het schrijven or simply Ik schrijf een brief.
Posture verb + te adds physical position
Hij zit te lezen. Ze staan te praten. Het kind ligt te slapen.
He's reading. They're talking. The child is sleeping.
zitten, staan, liggen and lopen plus te and an infinitive form a progressive that also tells you the subject's posture. The choice is not decorative: a person reading is almost always zit te lezen, and using staat te lezen would genuinely picture them standing. Repeated or irritating actions often take this form too: Hij zit maar te klagen ('he keeps on complaining').
bezig zijn met and bezig zijn te for effortful activity
Ik ben bezig met mijn scriptie. Ze zijn bezig het huis te verbouwen.
I'm working on my thesis. They're busy renovating the house.
bezig zijn stresses being occupied with something demanding, taking met before a noun and te before an infinitive. It is the natural answer to what you are working on. English 'busy doing' exists but is much less frequent, so Dutch uses this construction in places where English would simply use the progressive.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- working
- English
- to be (sitting) doing
- English
- to be (standing) doing
- English
- to be (lying) doing
- English
- to be busy with
- English
- to be (walking) doing
- English
- continuously
- English
- to renovate
- English
- to complain
- English
- to interrupt
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