Author Archives: Dutch Gurus

Moet jij nodig zeggen!

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Look who’s talking! [Dutch phrase of the week] Iconspeaker_klein_3 

This phrase is always used to express irony. The literal translation – "Must you necessarily say" – does not make much sense, but something like "It is really necessary that you say that…NOT" would somewhat cover its meaning. Luckily, there’s a dedicated English phrase for it: "Look who’s talking".

The phrase can be used in every person, see the Examples.

Examples:
– "Jij bent echt druk!" – "Moet jij nodig zeggen! Ik probeer al weken een afspraak met je te maken!"
("You’re a really busy person!" – "Look who’s talking! I’ve been trying for weeks now, to make an appointment with you!")

– "Frank beweert dat jij je snor hebt gedrukt tijdens de vergadering." – "Moet hij nodig zeggen! Hij kwam tien minuten te laat!"
("Frank claims that you weaseled out during the meeting." – "Look who’s talking! He came in ten minutes late!")

– "Wordt het niet eens tijd dat je gaat stofzuigen?" – "Moet jij nodig zeggen, jij zou afwassen weet je nog?!"
("Isn’t it about time that you start vacuum-cleaning?" – "Look who’s talking, you were supposed to wash up / do the dishes, remember?!")

Related words:
– "Nodig": necessary, needful.
– "Zeggen": to say.

Related expressions:
– "Moet je horen wie het zegt!": this phrase can be used the same way as "moet jij nodig zeggen" but you don’t have to conjugate as you are not addressing somebody directly.
– "Het moet niet gekker worden!": This is ridiculous!

379. Rietje

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1. straw [noun] [het rietje, de rietjes] [‘riet-ju’] Iconspeaker_klein_4

When referring to the object with which to suck up fluids, the Dutch have chosen to use the diminutive of a plant with a similar shape: "riet": the long, hard grass that grows in shallow, calm waters.

As a translation, "reed" can be used too, but in the context of the wood-wind instruments, see 2.

Examples:
– "Mam, ik wil een rietje!"
("Mum, I want a straw!")

– "Als je bier met een rietje drinkt, word je sneller zat."
("If you drink beer with a straw, you get drunk faster." Note that "word" does not get the additional ‘t’ since the second person "je" and the verb are swapped.)

– "Mag ik twee bier en een cola alsjeblieft." – "Natuurlijk, wil je een rietje bij de cola?"
("Can I have two beers and a coke please." – "Sure, do you want a straw with the coke?")

Related word:
– "Parapluutje": little umbrella.

2. reed [noun] [het rietje, de rietjes] [‘riet-ju’] Iconspeaker_klein_4

Most of the wood-wind instruments have a small, flat piece of wood, which is part of the mouthpiece, and which produces the actual sound by vibration when blowing the instrument: the reed.

Examples:
– "Mijn klarinet is vals." – "Misschien moet je het rietje vervangen."
("My clarinet is out of tune." – "Perhaps you should replace the reed.")

Related word:
– "Houten blaasinstrument": wood-wind instrument.

378. X-aantal

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a certain number, n [noun] [het x-aantal, <no plural>] [‘iks-aan-tal’] Iconspeaker_klein 

Not too many words in Dutch start with an ‘x’. Today, we thought we’d take a word that is not directly derived from Latin, and that is actually often used.

"X-aantal" is used to indicate an unknown number. It is composed of the letter "x" (the typical unknown variable), and the noun "aantal", which translates to "number". Translations of "x-aantal" may vary from "some", "a few" to "quite a few", or just "an unknown amount".

Examples:
– "Wacht een x-aantal seconden, en druk dan op ‘Menu’."
("Wait n seconds, then press ‘Menu’.")

– "Sander heeft gisteravond een x-aantal DWOTD-visitekaartjes aan Yolanda gegeven, die zij gaat uitdelen aan haar collega’s."
("Last night Sander gave a bunch of DWOTD business cards to Yolanda, who will hand these out to her co-workers.")

– "Ik ben de laatste tijd flink aangekomen en nu heb ik een x-aantal spijkerbroeken die niet meer passen."
("Lately I have gained quite some weight and now I have a number of (pairs of) jeans that do not fit anymore.")

– "Hoeveel vriendinnen heb jij gehad?" – "Ach, een x-aantal."
– "Ja ja…"
("How many girlfriends have you had?" – "Ah well, some." – "Yeah right…")

Related words:
– "Nummer": number, figure.
– "Aantal": number (as in a number of books/years), a few (as in a few minutes).
– "Tig": a lot (derived from the ending of tens in Dutch: twintig, dertig, veertig, etc.).

377. Jatten

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to steal, to nick, to pinch [verb] [jatte, gejat] [‘ja-tun’] Iconspeaker_klein

"Jatten" is used informally. It is also the plural of "jat", and then has the meaning of "hands", but again informally.

Examples:
– "Zo, die fiets is gloednieuw! Pas maar op dat hij niet gejat wordt!"
("My, that bicycle is brand-new! You had better pay attention that it is not stolen!")

– "Hé, wat is er gebeurd?" – "Mijn portemonnee is gejat in de tram."
("Hey, what happened?" – "My wallet was stolen in the tram.")

– "Kijk maar uit in de trein, tegenwoordig jatten ze je laptop zonder dat je het doorhebt!"
("You’d better watch out on the train, these days they steal your laptop without you noticing it!" Note the verb "doorhebben": to see (through), to be on to, …")

Expression:
–
"Beter goed gejat dan slecht bedacht": populistic expression saying
that it’s better to copy something well, than to have a bad idea.

Related words:
– "Jatmoos": pincher, swiper.
– "Dief": thief.

Sms’en

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to text, to text message, to send a text message [verb] [sms’te, ge-sms’t] [‘es-em-es-un’] Iconspeaker_klein

SMS is the acronym for Short Message Service. In Dutch we use the acronym as a noun for the text message itself, and then of course we’ve derived a verb by adding the ending -en. It is not used as such in English, and you might hear the unsuspecting Dutchman use it this way when speaking English.

The spelling of the verb “sms’en” and its conjugations is tricky and often done incorrectly. The rule is that when you derive a verb from an acronym, an apostrophe is required to separate the acronym from the ending -en.  Then there is debate whether or not a hyphen is necessary in the past participle.

Examples:
– “Ik zal je sms’en als ik op Den Haag Centraal ben aangekomen.”
(“I’ll text you when I’ve arrived at The Hague Central Station.”)

– “Frank zat continu met zijn nieuwe vlam te sms’en tijdens het werkoverleg.”
(“Frank was continuously sending text messages to his new flame/ladylove during the project meeting.”  A “werkoverleg” is actually some kind of project progress meeting. The verb “overleggen” translates to “to consult/confer”. Note that the typical
Dutch construction for continuous activities is used here: [subject]  + [conjugation
of verbs suchs as “lopen” / “zitten” / “staan” / “hangen”]  + [te] +
[infinitive].)

– “Wat heb je haar ge-sms’t?” – “Nou, dat ik verschrikkelijk verliefd op haar ben!”
(“What did you text her?” – “Well, that I’m madly in love with her!”)

– “En wat deed je toen?” – “Nou toen sms’te ik haar weer! En daarna heb ik nooit meer iets ontvangen!”
(“And what did you do next?” -“Well, then I sent her another text message! And after that, I never received anything back!”)

Related words:
– “Sms / sms’je”: text message.
– “Mobiel(tje)”: mobile (phone).
– “06”: colloquialism for a mobile phone number (all mobile phone numbers start with “06” in the Netherlands).

Example:
– “Heb je zijn 06 voor me?”
(“Do you have his cell phone number for me?”)

Extra:
There’s a very popular commercial on Dutch TV these days that is actually not about text messaging, but about sending emails with your mobile. The commercial starts with a guy trying to order 5 kilos of “inktvis” (squid). Because of the small keypad the users make mistakes and typos. Most famous one liner from this commercial is “goeiemoggel!”, which is supposed to be a typo of “goeiemorgen!” (good morning!). In Dutch commercials, humour is the most important ingredient and studies have shown that it’s the best way to make a message stick with the Dutch. As a result “goeiemoggel” can now be heard in many Dutch offices every morning… 🙂