In the perfect tense, most past participles are preceded by a conjugation of [_hebben_](#/lesson/Verbs.Ir07) _._ There are, however, a few verbs that also take [_zijn_](#/lesson/Verbs.Ir06) as an auxiliary verb.
Past participles that take _zijn_:
Most past participles that exclusively take zijn are either:
- Verbs that indicate movement, a development or a change. E.g. _komen_ (to come), _beginnen_ (to begin), _sterven_ (to die), and _krimpen_ (to shrink).
- Link verbs, e.g.: _blijken_ and _voorkomen_ (to appear), _blijven_ (to stay), _lijken_ and _schijnen_ (to seem), _raken_ (to get, to become), and _worden_ (to become). See also [link verbs](#/lesson/WordOrder.32).
Past participles that take both _zijn_ and _hebben_
A number of past participles can take both hebben and zijn. This concerns verbs that:
- Indicate movement: You have to use _zijn_ if you are talking about moving from or into a certain direction. You use _hebben_ if the direction is not mentioned or implied. I wrote 'implied', because there are verbs that implicitly mention a direction, e.g. _uitvaren_ (to sail out), _binnenspringen_ (to jump inside, to drop by), _langslopen_ (to walk by, to pass by), and _opklimmen_ (to climb up, to rise).
- Can be both transitive (requiring a direct object) and intransitive. If the verb is used transitively, we use _hebben_; for intransitive verbs, we use _zijn_. For example:, in "De tijden zijn veranderd" ("Times have changed"), _veranderen_ is intransitive, but in "Ze heeft het verhaal veranderd" ("She has changed the story"), _veranderen_ is transitive.
Transitive and reflexive verbs always take hebben
Transitive and reflexive verbs always take _hebben_, even if they would otherwise fall under one of the _'zijn_-categories'.
Examples of verbs of movement that can take both _hebben_ and _zijn_
_Wandelen:_ to walk, to stroll
NO DIRECTION | Ik heb op straat gewandeld. | I have walked in the street.
DIRECTION | Ik ben naar huis gewandeld. | I have walked home.
_Lopen_ (strong verb): to walk
NO DIRECTION | Ik heb op hoge hakken gelopen. | I have walked on high heels.
DIRECTION | Ik ben naar binnen gelopen. | I have walked in.
_Klimmen_ (strong verb): to climb
NO DIRECTION | Ik heb in de Alpen geklommen. | I have climbed in the Alps.
DIRECTION | Ik ben naar de top geklommen. | I have climbed to the top.
NO DIRECTION | Ik heb veel geklommen. | I have climbed a lot.
DIRECTION | Ik ben op het dak geklommen. | I have climed on the roof.
_Springen_ (strong verb): to jump
NO DIRECTION | Ik heb in de rivier gesprongen. | I have jumped in the river (while I was already in it).
DIRECTION | Ik ben in de rivier gesprongen. | I have jumped into the river.
NO DIRECTION | Ik heb op mijn fiets gesprongen. | I have jumped on my bicycle (while I was already on it).
DIRECTION | Ik ben op mijn fiets gesprongen. | I got (jumped) on my bicycle.
_Rijden_ (strong verb): to drive, to ride
NO DIRECTION | Ik heb de hele dag in die auto gereden. | I have driven in that car all day.
DIRECTION | Ik ben met de auto naar Antwerpen gereden. | I have driven to Antwerp by car.
NO DIRECTION | Hij heeft nog nooit met een motor gereden. | He has never ridden a motorbike.
DIRECTION | Ze is met de motor naar Frankrijk gereden. | She has ridden to France on a motorbike.
Verbs like _vallen_ (to fall) and _zinken_ (to sink) only take _zijn_. You may wonder what the difference is with, for example, _klimmen_ (to climb), which can take both _hebben_ and _zijn_.
You could argue that you can fall from a riverbank into the river (which clearly indicates a direction -> zijn), but you can also say that you simply fell (no direction specified -> hebben). Yet _vallen_ never takes _hebben_. Indeed, a difficult case. The subtle distinction that I see is that _vallen_ and _zinken_ are not activities; they have no intended direction or destination. Instead, they are events that happen to the agent. Seeing it this way, you could say that a person's state changed from 'not-fallen' to 'fallen' or from 'not-sunk' to 'sunk'. As mentioned above, we also use _zijn_ for past participles that indicate a certain change. Admittedly, the distinction between zijn and hebben past participles is sometimes a bit vague.
Past participles that can be both transitive and intransitive
For intransitive verbs, we use _zijn_, for transitive verbs, we use _hebben_.
_Bederven_ (strong verb): to go bad (intransitive), to ruin (transitive)
INTRANSITIVE | De melk is bedorven. | The milk has gone bad.
TRANSITIVE | Hij heeft het feestje bedorven. | He had ruined the party.
_Scheiden_ (strong verb): to divorce (intransitive), to separate (transitive)
INTRANSITIVE | Ze zijn vorig jaar gescheiden. | They got divorced last year.
TRANSITIVE | We hebben de honden van de katten gescheiden. | We have separated the dogs from the cats.
_Genezen_ (strong verb): to heal (intransitive), to cure (transitive)
INTRANSITIVE | De wond is snel genezen. | The wound has healed fast.
TRANSITIVE | De arts heeft haar genezen. | The doctor has cured her.
_Sluiten_ (strong verb): to close (intransitive and transitive)
INTRANSITIVE | Het café is vorig jaar gesloten. | The cafe closed down last year.
TRANSITIVE | Heb je de deur gesloten? | Have you closed the door?
Smelten (strong verb): to melt (intransitive and transitive)
INTRANSITIVE | Het ijs is gesmolten. | The ice has melted.
TRANSITIVE | We hebben het zink met een soldeerbout gesmolten. | We have melted the zinc with a soldering iron.
In the [list of strong verbs](#/lesson/Verbs.Ir03), all past participles that take _zijn_ are indicated.