bepalen

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch bepalen (“to put poles on/around”). Equivalent to paal +‎ be- -en.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bəˈpaːlə(n)/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: be‧pa‧len
• Rhymes: -aːlən

Verb

bepalen

1. (transitive) to determine, to figure out

   Dat is bepaald door de wet.

   That is determined by law.

2. (transitive) to determine, to decide, to choose
3. (reflexive) to limit oneself, to restrain oneself, to contain oneself

   In de toekomst, ik zal proberen tot alleen twee per dag mezelf te bepalen.

   In the future, I will try to limit myself to only two per day.

Inflection

Conjugation of bepalen (weak, prefixed)
infinitive	bepalen
past singular	bepaalde
past participle	bepaald
infinitive	bepalen
gerund	bepalen n
	present tense	past tense
1st person singular	bepaal	bepaalde
2nd person sing. (jij)	bepaalt, bepaal2	bepaalde
2nd person sing. (u)	bepaalt	bepaalde
2nd person sing. (gij)	bepaalt	bepaalde
3rd person singular	bepaalt	bepaalde
plural	bepalen	bepaalden
subjunctive sing.1	bepale	bepaalde
subjunctive plur.1	bepalen	bepaalden
imperative sing.	bepaal
imperative plur.1	bepaalt
participles	bepalend	bepaald
1) Archaic. 2) In case of inversion.

Synonyms

• (figure out): vaststellen
• (decide): regelen, kiezen
• (limit): beperken

Derived terms

• bepaald
• bepaling

Descendants

• Afrikaans: bepaal
• → Papiamentu: bepaal (dated)