From Middle Dutch seggen, from Old Dutch *seggen, from Proto-West Germanic *saggjan. The irregular past tense is a common Ingvaeonic development of the northern dialects, seen also in brein and zeil. (In an unrelated, later development the same also happened in Middle High German sagen.)
zeggen
The irregular past tense is used in the Netherlands, while the weak past forms are used primarily in Flanders.
| Inflection of zeggen (weak, irregular) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | zeggen | |||
| past singular | zei, zegde | |||
| past participle | gezegd | |||
| infinitive | zeggen | |||
| gerund | zeggen n | |||
| present tense | past tense | |||
| 1st person singular | zeg | zei, zegde | ||
| 2nd person sing. (jij) | zegt | zei, zegde | ||
| 2nd person sing. (u) | zegt | zei, zegde | ||
| 2nd person sing. (gij) | zegt | zeidt, zegde | ||
| 3rd person singular | zegt | zei, zegde | ||
| plural | zeggen | zeiden, zegden | ||
| subjunctive sing.1 | zegge | zeide, zegde | ||
| subjunctive plur.1 | zeggen | zeiden, zegden | ||
| imperative sing. | zeg | |||
| imperative plur.1 | zegt | |||
| participles | zeggend | gezegd | ||
| 1) Archaic. | ||||
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
zeggen