We’re almost through our basic household vocabulary for the month, and really no room by room exploration would be complete without a trip to the bathroom. In the Netherlands, and many other countries as well, there is frequently a separate water closet (WC) and bathroom. The WC will always have a toilet and sink, whereas the bathroom will have the tub or shower, and also perhaps another toilet. In larger homes in the Netherlands it is not uncommon to find the WC in the entrance hallway to the house. And as I talked about in a previous post, the WC is the place to hang your verjaardagskalender, so you will frequently see this on the wall and be reminded of all the important birthday events coming up.
Another common feature of the Dutch WC or bathroom is the shelf toilet. The shelf toilet is basically the bane of my existence, but it really is a preference sort of thing. I’m not going to go into too much detail here as to what the shelf toilet is, but basically image a shelf being put in the basin of the toilet so that it catches everything that comes into it. That’s a shelf toilet and that is more than I wish to say about it.
Lastly, it is also not uncommon for Dutch bathrooms to only have a shower and no tub. You will find this especially in smaller city housing as a space-saving measure, although my bathroom is more than large enough to accommodate a bath tub and yet I remain tubless. Ahhh….a girl can dream though.
de badkamer : the bathroom
de wc : the water closet
de tegel : the tile
het bad : the bath
de douche : the shower
zich baden : to bathe oneself
zich wassen : to wash oneself
douchen : to shower
het toilet : the toilet
de handdoek : the towel
het washandje : the washcloth
de tandenborstel : the toothbrush
tanden poetsen : to brush one’s teeth
de tandpasta : the toothpaste
de zeep : the soap
de douchegel : the shower gel
de lotion : the lotion
de deodorant : the deodorant
de scheerzeep : the shaving soap
de scheercrème : the shaving cream
het wegwerp mesje : the disposable razor
het scheerapparaat : the electric shaver
scheren : to shave
de haarborstel : the hairbrush
de conditioner : the hair conditioner
de shampoo : the shampoo
shampooën : to shampoo
de kam : the comb
kammen : to comb
de föhn: the hairdryer
