Grammatica - loco

11
Verbs
184
Although it is not compulsory to contract, in cases like the third example
where there are four verbs, it is preferable to reduce the number to three
by such contraction. (For further verbal contractions see modal verbs,
11.8.3.)
11.1.8.1
See 11.2.7.1 for use of the conditional perfect with reported speech.
11.2
11.2.1
Use of tenses
Present tense
The present tense is used as in English with the following exceptions:
11.2.1.1
Dutch has its own idiomatic way of expressing the present continuous
(i.e. He is reading a book, see 11.13) and the emphatic present (i.e. He
does like fish, see 11.14).
11.2.1.2
The present tense is used even more extensively in Dutch than in English
to express the future; it is in fact the most usual way of expressing the
future (see 11.1.5.3).
11.2.1.3
An English perfect followed by ‘for’ plus an expression of time is rendered
by the present tense in Dutch as the action of the verb is seen not to have
been completed but as still continuing into the present:
Ik woon al tien jaar hier. I have been living here for ten years.
I have lived here for ten years.
A similar construction is required in sentences introduced by ‘how long’
as the actual meaning is ‘how long for’:
Hoe lang leert hij al Nederlands?
How long has he been learning Dutch (for)? (see 10.3.7 (c))