On Wednesday (Woensdag), I went to the cinema (bioscoop) with a friend to see the film, Bridesmaids.  We bought our tickets (kaartjes) before grabbing a bite to eat.  Since it was also “Ladies Night” for one of the other films, the area around the ticket desks was already quite busy (druk).

When we got back from eating, we showed the employee (medewerker) our tickets and entered the realm of food (eten) and drinks (drinken).  Both my friend and I decided to have a beer (een bier) and we also decided to share (delen) a popcorn.  We had the choice between sweet (zoet) or salted (zout).  We went with the salted.

After paying (betalen) for our items we checked our tickets to see which screening room (zaal) we were in.  We also checked for our seat (stoel) and row (rij) number to make sure we weren’t the two people caught out for being in the wrong seats.

Before the film began there were advertisements (reclames) for other films and products, including the Grolsch beer we had in our hands.  There was also a reminder to put our mobiles on quiet (stil).  Since we were watching a comedy (een komedie) there were lots of times that we were laughing (lachen).

After the film (na de film) we went down the stairs (de trappen af gaan) towards the exit (uitgang) and received a free (gratis) bottle of Coca-Cola.  It was an enjoyable evening (het was een leuke avond).

Some Related Vocabulary

• adventure film – avonturen film
• horror film – griezel film
• romantic film – liefdes film
• historical film – historische film
• detective film – detective film
• a western – een western
• war film – oorlogs film
• cartoon – tekenfilm
• documentary – documentaire
• political film – politieke film

Some Tips

• A great website to see which movies are showing in your area and when is www.pathe.nl.  You can also book tickets via the website.
• Next to the name of a film (usually cartoons or family films), you will sometimes see (NL) or (OV).  OV stands for originele versie (original version) meaning that the film will be played in the language it was filmed in (often English).  NL, therefore stands for Nederlands, indicating that the film will be dubbed in Dutch.
• Films without (NL) or (OV) are shown in the language they were filmed in.  If this was not Dutch, then Dutch subtitles will usually be displayed below.  Film festivals and special events are different.  These will often display English subtitles.