German and Dutch are West Germanic languages. English is also a West Germanic language. However, unlike English, German and Dutch form many past particles with a circumfix. The circumfix consists of the prefix -ge before the verb stem and the suffix variants -t, -et or -en. Here are examples of Dutch and German past participles:
(come) gekomen gekommen
(drunk) gedronken getrunken
(eaten) gegeten gegessen
(heard) gehoort gehört
(made) gemaakt gemacht
(read) gelezen gelesen
(said) gezegt gesagt
(seen) gezien gesehen
(spoken) gesproken gesprochen
(written) geschreven geschrieben
The Dutch and German past participles are similar. The fricative /z/ is spelt with an s in German.
The prefix -ge is always unstressed. In Old English, irregular past participles were formed with the prefix -ge, but unlike German and Dutch, it did not retain the prefix.
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