{"id":7528,"date":"2021-11-22T16:52:36","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T16:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/?p=7528"},"modified":"2021-11-22T16:52:36","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T16:52:36","slug":"a-dutch-essential-leuk-but-what-does-it-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/a-dutch-essential-leuk-but-what-does-it-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"A Dutch Essential: Leuk! But what does it mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you learn, you’ll come across this word sooner or later:\u00a0leuk<\/em>. Like\u00a0gezellig<\/em><\/a>, we use it for all kinds of things. But how do you translate\u00a0leuk<\/em>, and what are all its meanings? Let’s find out.<\/p>\n

Nice or fun?<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"nice<\/a>

A nice day! Is that a leuke dag<\/em> or a mooie dag<\/em>? (Photo by Sam Schooler<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

Leuk\u00a0<\/em>in its most straightforward form means\u00a0nice<\/strong> <\/em>or fun<\/em><\/strong>. And you can sometimes translate it like that as well:<\/p>\n

Wat leuk!\u00a0<\/em>– how nice!\/how fun!<\/p>\n

But that’s when\u00a0leuk\u00a0<\/em>becomes problematic! Imagine that the sun is shining, and you want to communicate this to your Dutch grandmother. What would you say?<\/p>\n

A. Wat een mooie<\/strong> dag!<\/em><\/p>\n

B. Wat een leuke<\/strong> dag!<\/em><\/p>\n

C. Wat een lekkere<\/strong> dag!<\/em><\/p>\n

While they can all, in theory, mean “what a nice day”, A makes most sense.\u00a0Wat een mooie dag\u00a0<\/em>(what a beautiful day) is what we say. A leuke dag\u00a0<\/em>means more like a “fun day”.<\/p>\n

Now let’s say you want to discuss the musical you saw with her last night, what would you say?<\/p>\n

A. Die musical was mooi<\/strong> gisteravond, h\u00e8?<\/em><\/p>\n

B. Die musical was leuk<\/strong> gisteravond, h\u00e8?<\/em><\/p>\n

C.\u00a0Die musical was lekker<\/strong> gisteravond, h\u00e8?<\/em><\/p>\n

In this case, you’d say\u00a0leuk\u00a0<\/em>if it was fun, and\u00a0mooi\u00a0<\/em>if it was beautiful\/wonderful.<\/p>\n

So you can think of\u00a0leuk\u00a0<\/em>as a description of events that are fun or nice.<\/p>\n

Unlike English, however, the Dutch use\u00a0leuk\u00a0<\/em>like that\u00a0for everything<\/strong>, it’s used more than the English nice, I’d say. Here’s a selection:<\/p>\n

Oh, it’s so cool! –\u00a0Oh, het is zo leuk!<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, it’s super nice\u00a0– Ja, het is superleuk!<\/em><\/p>\n

Isn’t that fun? – Is dat niet leuk?<\/em><\/p>\n

Wat a nice jacket! –\u00a0wat een leuke jas!<\/em><\/p>\n

But there are more meanings!<\/p>\n

A nice person?<\/strong><\/h1>\n