The past participle in Dutch is formed with ge- plus stem plus -d or -t for weak verbs, or ge- plus changed stem plus -en for strong verbs. It has two main uses: in compound tenses (Ik heb gewerkt — perfect tense; De deur is geopend — passive) and as an adjective (een verloren brief — a lost letter, goed gevormde zinnen — well-formed sentences). As an adjective, the past participle follows the normal adjective-inflection rules.
The present participle is formed by adding -d to the infinitive: werkend (working), lopend (walking or running), slapend (sleeping). It functions mainly as an attributive adjective: een werkende moeder (a working mother), een slapend kind (a sleeping child). It rarely functions as a gerund in modern Dutch — where English uses running is good exercise, Dutch uses the infinitive as noun: Lopen is goed voor je gezondheid. The present participle as a clause-forming element is possible but more literary.
Absolute participial phrases — where a participial clause lacks its own explicit subject and the subject is understood from context — are used in formal Dutch: Gearriveerd in Amsterdam, belde hij direct zijn hotel. Geheel verrast door het nieuws, wist ze niets te zeggen. These constructions compress information elegantly and are common in journalism and academic writing. Learning to recognise and produce them marks a significant step toward advanced Dutch proficiency.