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Tag Archives: Dutch vocabulary

Curious Dutch Words – Monnikenwerk Posted by on Mar 28, 2022

Monnikenwerk monk's work drudgery donkey work

It’s a situation we’re probably all too familiar with: You know you have that paper to write, but it is saaaaai (booooring). This eentonig (monotonous) subject and the ridiculous length that you are required to write about it… Come on! Daar heb ik geen tijd voor! (I don’t have time for that!) In Dutch, we sometimes…

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Getting Gas in the Netherlands – Vocabulary Posted by on Mar 11, 2022

tankstation gas station getting gas tanken

Benzineprijzen (gasoline prices) have gone off the rails in the Netherlands. They shot well above 2 euros per liter (in American terms, that’s more than 8 dollars per gallon!), with record stijgingen (increases). A main reason given is de oorlog in de Ukraine (war in Ukraine). Some tankstations (gas stations) took this crisis as an opportunity for…

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Wat móét ik nou hiermee? Accents on Dutch Words, Explained Posted by on Feb 21, 2022

Dutch Dit dat emphasis signs streepje accent aigu accent grave

Dutch is pretty straightforward. Unlike German, French, Spanish or some Nordic languages, we don’t put accents on our letters! But then words like ingeënt, kopiëren, reünie, drieënvijftig, geïnd and tweeën say hello. This is what we call het trema (diaeresis), and in the Netherlands, it doesn’t signify that we pronounce the letter differently, but it’s rather an indication that…

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A Dutch Essential: Leuk! But what does it mean? Posted by on Nov 22, 2021

nice leuk mooi weer weather beautiful day clouds

When you learn, you’ll come across this word sooner or later: leuk. Like gezellig, we use it for all kinds of things. But how do you translate leuk, and what are all its meanings? Let’s find out. Nice or fun? Leuk in its most straightforward form means nice or fun. And you can sometimes translate it like that as well…

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Curious Words in Dutch 9: Grapjas Posted by on May 3, 2021

We all remember that person in our high school that had to make a joke out of everything. Entertaining, annoying, whatever. One thing was clear: they were the class clown! The Dutch somehow liken such funny people with jackets, because their word is: grapjas (“joke jacket”). Wait, what? Previous posts in this series: Curious Words In Dutch…

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Dutch Fillers Part 2 – 8 Very Common Dutch Stopwoorden Posted by on Mar 11, 2021

So, yesterday we talked about why we actually use stopwoorden (fillers). And while we explained there why we even use these stopwoorden, I want to give you a few very common Dutch stopwoorden and their meanings! Click here to read Dutch Fillers Part 1. 8 of the most often used fillers in Dutch, of zo Like…

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Dutch Fillers Part 1 – Why do We Use Stopwoorden? Posted by on Mar 10, 2021

So, you’ve tried to learn Dutch, right? Well, you know, there are words that make sentences unnecessarily long, right? Like, without them, you could, like, still say the same thing, you know, with fewer words. You can probably tell by now, I am talking about stopwoorden (“fill words”, fillers). We have them in Dutch, too! Here’s why…

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