From Dutch verstaan, from Middle Dutch verstaen, from Old Dutch farstān, from Proto-Germanic *fura + *stāną.
verstaan (present verstaan, present participle verstanende, past participle verstaan)
From Middle Dutch verstaen, from Old Dutch farstān, from Proto-Germanic *fura + *stāną, compare Proto-West Germanic *frastandan (“to oppose; to understand”). Cognate with German verstehen; English forstand, Swedish förstå. Equivalent to ver- + staan.
verstaan
In sense 2, the verb begrijpen is more common, but verstaan is also used, while the opposite is uncommon.
| Inflection of verstaan (strong class 6, irregular, prefixed) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | verstaan | |||
| past singular | verstond | |||
| past participle | verstaan | |||
| infinitive | verstaan | |||
| gerund | verstaan n | |||
| present tense | past tense | |||
| 1st person singular | versta | verstond | ||
| 2nd person sing. (jij) | verstaat | verstond | ||
| 2nd person sing. (u) | verstaat | verstond | ||
| 2nd person sing. (gij) | verstaat | verstondt | ||
| 3rd person singular | verstaat | verstond | ||
| plural | verstaan | verstonden | ||
| subjunctive sing.1 | versta | verstonde | ||
| subjunctive plur.1 | verstaan | verstonden | ||
| imperative sing. | versta | |||
| imperative plur.1 | verstaat | |||
| participles | verstaand | verstaan | ||
| 1) Archaic. | ||||
verstaan
| Inflection of verstaan | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| uninflected | verstaan | |||
| inflected | verstane | |||
| positive | ||||
| predicative/adverbial | verstaan | |||
| indefinite | m./f. sing. | verstane | ||
| n. sing. | verstaan | |||
| plural | verstane | |||
| definite | verstane | |||
| partitive | verstaans | |||
verstaan