1. woman, female, lady [noun] [de vrouw, de vrouwen] [‘vrouw‘]

This week we’ll make an effort to provide you with common words to describe or address females. We start with the basic "vrouw".

Examples:
– "Wie is die vrouw in de rode jurk?"
("Who is that woman in the red dress?")

– "Val jij op mannen of op vrouwen?"
("Do you fancy / are you into men or women?")

– "Er zijn gescheiden douches voor mannen en vrouwen."
("There are separate showers for men and women.")

– "Sommige clubs hebben gratis entree voor vrouwen."
("Some clubs offer free entrance to women.")

– "Mijn moeder is jarenlang een alleenstaande vrouw geweest."
("My mother has been an unattached woman / woman on her own for years." Literally "alleenstaand" means "standing alone".)

– "Met betrekking tot de biologie wordt "female" in het Nederlands met het verkleinwoord vertaald: vrouwtje."
("With respect to biology, in Dutch "female" is translated with the diminutive: vrouwtje.")

Expression:
You will sometimes hear the following anti-female expression uttered by the more marginal men:
"Vrouwen? Dan kun je beter kippen hou-en!"
(Lit.: "Women? You had better keep hens!" The verb at the end should be "houden", but is pronounced "hou-wun" in slang.)

Related words:
– "Dame": lady.
– "Mevrouw": Mrs., Ms., Madam.
– "Juffrouw": primary or elementary school teacher, Miss. In the first translation, often abbreviated to "Juf".
– "Vrouwonvriendelijk": anti-woman/female, disadvantageous to women.
– "Buurvrouw": female neighbour.

2. wife, spouse [noun] [de vrouw, de vrouwen] [‘vrouw‘]

Examples:
– "Ik ben Frank Bilbo, en dit is mijn vrouw Lea. Hoe maakt u het?"
("I am Frank Bilbo, and this is my wife Lea. How do you do?")

– "Mijn vrouw kan heel goed kaartlezen! We zijn niet verdwaald in Parijs en de TomTom hebben we niet nodig gehad!"
("My wife is very good at reading maps! We did not get lost in Paris and we had no need for the TomTom!" We only promote the TomTom here because it’s Dutch :-))

Related words:
– "Huisvrouw": housewife.

3. queen [noun] [de vrouw, de vrouwen] [‘vrouw‘]

This translation is only common in the world of card games.

Examples:
– "En hartenvrouw maakt een straat, ik win!"
("And the queen of hearts makes a street, I win!")

fellow, guy, man [noun] [de vent, de venten] [‘vent‘]

More or less synonymous to "kerel" is the informal "vent". Its plural is never used (but does exist according to the dictionary 😉 ). The biggest difference is that "vent" can be used in both a positive and negative context, the latter mainly when you to point to or describe a man you don’t know (see the Examples).

Examples:
– "Heb je Daniela’s nieuwe vriend al ontmoet? Een leuke vent!"
("Have you met Daniela’s new boyfriend? A nice fellow/guy!")

– "Ik vind die tennisster niet aantrekkelijk, ze lijkt wel een vent…"
("I don’t think that tennis player is attractive, she looks like a guy…" Pay attention to the spelling of "tennisster". The verb is "tennissen". A male tennis player is a "tennisser" with the male ending -er, whereas the female ending is -ster.)

– "<tegen een klein neefje:> Zo ventje! Wil jij een snoepje?"
("<to a little nephew:> Well little man! Do you want a sweet/piece of candy?")

– "Hee moppie, heb jij al een vent?"
("Hey doll, got a man already?")

– "<vrouwen onder elkaar:> Kijk daar! Wat een lekkere vent!"
("<women among each other:> Look (over there)! That guy is hot!" Lit.: "…What a tasty guy!")

– "Wie is die enge vent aan de overkant van de straat?"
("Who is that scary man on the other side of the street?")

– "Wie was dat?" – "O, een of andere vent die wat van me wilde."
("Who was that?" – "Oh, some guy who wanted something of me.")

Related words:
– "Venten": to sell on the street, to hawk.
– "Venter": street seller.
– "Potloodventer": flasher (that is: a man showing his genital organ to innocent passers-by). Literally "potloodventer" translates to pencil street seller.
– "Gozer": guy, bloke, dude.
– "Gast": guest, or: guy, bloke, dude.
– "Kerel": guy, bloke, dude, fellow.

(big) fellow, guy, man, chap [noun] [de kerel, de kerels] [‘kee-rul‘]

Today we continue with another popular word to address a male person: "’Kerel". Differences with "gozer" en "gast" are small, subtle and depend on context. When imitating a posh person, the Dutch often use the word "kerel", which has the reputation of being used a lot in the more posh environments. This is definitely not the case for "gozer" and "gast"!

The pronunciation of the first ‘e’ in "kerel" is between "i" and "ee". Ask the local Dutch guru!

Examples:
– "Dag kerel! Hoe gaat het met jou?"
("Hello old chap! How are you doing?")

– "Heb je Daniela’s nieuwe vriend al ontmoet? Het is een toffe kerel."
("Have you met Daniela’s new boyfriend? It is a really nice guy.")

– "Wie is die vreemde kerel met wie Frank staat te praten?"
("Who’s that strange man to whom Frank is talking?")

– "<tegen een klein neefje:> Zo! Jij wordt al een grote kerel!!"
("<to a little nephew:> Well, well! You’re becoming a big fellow already!!")

– "Wees een kerel, en vertel me de waarheid!"
("Be a man, and tell me the truth!")

Related word:
– "Gozer": guy, bloke, dude.
– "Gast": guy, bloke, dude.

1. guest, visitor, lodger [noun] [de gast, de gasten] [‘gast‘]

Today’s word is "gast" because it can be used the same way as
yesterday’s "gozer" (see translation 2. below). However, its main
meaning is "guest".

Examples:
– "Aanstaande maandag kan ik niet naar de karate-training, want dan heb ik gasten te eten."
("This coming Monday I can’t go to karate training, because I will have guests over for dinner.")

– "Het is bij mij thuis een zooitje. Ik kan dit weekend echt geen gasten ontvangen."
("It is a mess at my place. I can’t possibly receive guests this weekend.")

– "Op Windows kun je het gast-account het beste uitschakelen."
("On Windows one had better disable the guest account.")

Expression:
– "Zoals de waard is, vertrouwt hij zijn gasten": something like "ill doers are ill deemers", literally: "the way the innkeeper is, he trusts his guests."

Related words:
– "Gasthuis": old-fashioned synonym for "ziekenhuis": hospital.
– "Gastenverblijf": guest wing. For a single room see "logeerkamer" below.
– "Gastenboek": guest book.
– "Logé": a guest that stays over at your house.
– "Logeerkamer": the room that the "logé" will stay in.
– "Logeren": to stay over at someone’s house.
– "Bezoeker": visitor.
– "Bezoeken": to visit.

2. guy, bloke, dude, fellow [noun] [de gast, de gasten] [‘gast‘]

In this translation the word "gast" can be used in the same way as "gozer", that is: for males only,  however it does not have the positive connotation by definition.

Examples:
– "Hé gast!! Tijd niet gezien!!"
("Hey dude/mate/man!! Long time no see!!)

– "Die nieuwe buurman van mij is een vreemde gast."
("That new neighbour of mine is a strange guy.")

– "Er hangen weer wat gasten rond bij de ingang van het park."
("A few guys are hanging around again at the park entrance.")

 Related word:
– "Gozer": guy, bloke, dude.