The G in Groningen is for Gezelligheid Posted by Karoly Molina on Aug 21, 2014
On Sunday, Riccardo and I headed to Groningen. Although it was a very short trip, I was very excited to go to the northern most tip of the Netherlands. It took us almost three hours to get there, and we enjoyed a typical Dutch country scenery of bomen, boerderijen, koeien mixed with regen and wolken…
Inversie – Inversion in Dutch Posted by Sten on Aug 20, 2014
Inversie is used frequently in the Dutch language, and in many situations. What is inversie? Inversie, or inversion in English, means that you switch the verb and the subject in a sentence. For example: hij geeft hem een appel becomes hem geeft hij een appel, or hij kan heel goed praten met mij becomes praten kan hij heel goed met mij. Even though this may be tough, it…
Campaigns in NL 1 – De scholen zijn weer begonnen! Posted by Sten on Aug 19, 2014
This new series of posts, called “Campaigns Made in NL” is about campaigns and advertisements in the Netherlands that are so ingeburgerd (integrated in society) that everybody knows them. Some led to new verbs and other idioms. This week: schools started again! The campaign From now on, street corners are filled with signs, banners are spanned across…
Better than Yes or No Posted by Karoly Molina on Aug 13, 2014
When we speak in our native language, we tend to have a better variety of ways to answer simple yes or no questions. In English, you can use sure, of course, I’d love to, etc. to express yes and absolutely no, no way, I’d rather die, etc. to say no. These varieties help us get…
Spreekwoorden en Uitdrukkingen (Sayings and Expressions) 2 – The Rooster and the Alphabet Posted by Sten on Aug 9, 2014
Dear blog readers! Here is number two of the series Sayings and Expressions. This week we combine a rooster with the alphabet. How? Through saying and expression. Just read on, you will find out. Let’s start with the saying! For other sayings and expressions in this series, click here. Wie A zegt, moet ook B…
Cough! Cough! Time to go to the Huisarts Posted by Karoly Molina on Aug 6, 2014
Every time I have moved, I have fallen into the traps of new germs and viruses, and after four months, the Dutch germs finally got to me! For the past eight days, I have been living a true Dutch common verkoudheid (cold), and it has not been fun at all. I do not meant to…
Record-High Rainfalls in the Netherlands Posted by Sten on Jul 29, 2014
Yesterday, the Netherlands was hit by a huge storm with severe rainfall. A weeralarm (weather alert) in the stage code oranje (code orange) was announced in the provinces Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland, Noord-Brabant and Utrecht. This means that there is a chance of extraordinary weather coming with a greater chance of schade en ongevallen (damage and accidents). This turned out to be more than…