Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word zijn. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word zijn, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say zijn in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word zijn you have here. The definition of the word zijn will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofzijn, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
From Middle Dutchsijn, from Old Dutchsīn. The infinitive zijn along with the words is and zij (present indicative and subjunctive) derive ultimately from Proto-Indo-European*h₁es-(“to be”), which had no separate infinitive in Germanic. The modern infinitive was probably back-formed in late Old Dutch from the first-person plural subjunctive sīn(“we be”), since this form had become identical to the infinitive in other verbs during the late Old Dutch period. Compare also Germansein, Low Germansien.
Finally, the forms ben and bent derive from Proto-Germanic*beuną(“to be, to become”), from *bʰuH-(“to become”), which survives only as relic forms in the West Germanic languages and not at all in the others. Its infinitive and non-singular forms are attested in (Old) English, Frisian and a number of Dutch dialects.
Drie keer vijf is vijftien. ― Three times five is fifteen.
Conjugation
Generally, the infinitive wezen, the present participle wezend and the present subjunctive weze and wezen are also used. While the subjunctive is considered archaic, it persists in some fixed expressions such as als ware ("as if were").
Zijn has special forms for the pronominal imperatives of u and jullie. Thus, weestu!, wezenjullie!, rather than the regular bent u!, zijn jullie!, which are less common. The simple imperative is wees in all cases. In Belgium the singular imperative zij is also used.
5) Archaic. Nowadays used for formal, literary or poetic purposes, and in fixed expressions. 6) To differentiate from the singular gij, gelle (object form elle) and variants are commonly used colloquially in Belgium. Archaic forms are gijlieden and gijlui ("you people").