three [number]

Examples:
– “Hoe schrijf je een Romeinse drie? – III.”
(“How do you write a Roman three? – III.”)

– “Als je een harten drie hebt, kun je met de schoppen drie een paar maken.”
(“If you have a three of hearts, you can make a pair with the three of spades.”)

– “Gisteren hebben we met z’n drieën lekker gejamd op de gitaar.”
(“Yesterday, the three of us jammed the guitar alright.” In speech ‘zijn’ turns into ‘z’n’ and the latter is pronounced ‘zun’.)

– “De drie musketiers waren altijd met z’n drieën :-)”
(“The three musketeers were always with the three of them 🙂 “)

– “Franks presentatie was om drie uur afgelopen.”
(“Frank’s presentation was finished at three o’clock.”)

– “Zondag is het drie juni.”
(“Sunday it will be the third of June.”)

– “Hoofdstuk drie van dit geschiedenisboek gaat over de Neanderthalers.”
(“Chapter three of this history book is about the Neanderthals.”)

– “<man tegen vrouw, zuchtend:> Zou je hem niet eens in z’n drie zetten, schat?”
(“<husband to wife, sighing:> How about shifting to third gear, dear?” Lit.: “Wouldn’t you put it in its three now, dear?”)

Related words:
– “Derde”: third.
– “Een”: one.
– “Twee”: two.
– “Driedubbel”: threefold, treble.
– “Drietand”: trident.
– “Trio”: trio, threesome (sexually).

Expressions:
– “Niet tot drie kunnen tellen”: to be too stupid for words. Lit.: “not being able to count to three”.

– “Alle goede dingen komen in drieën”: all good things go by / come in threes.

– “Drie is te veel”: two is company, three is a crowd. Lit.: “three is too many”.

– “Als twee honden vechten om een been, loopt de derde ermee heen”: two dogs fight for a bone, and a third runs away with it.

Extra:
“Drie maal drie is negen” is a well-known children’s song that is sung by children in a group. Everytime a different child is invited to sing a song. This invitation is preceeded by everyone singing:

“Drie maal drie is negen
en ieder zingt zijn eigen lied.
Drie maal drie is negen
en <naam van kind> zingt zijn lied.”

Literally translated:
Three times three is nine
and everyone sings his own song.
Three times three is nine
and <child’s name> sings his/her song.

Often the teacher fills in de child’s name, after which the child has to sing a song of his or her choice. The rest of the group sings along (if they know the song 🙂 )

two [number]

Examples:
– "Twee maal twee is vier."
("Two times two equals four."

– "Kinderen! Twee aan twee opstellen alsjullieblieft!"
("Children! Please line up in twos / two by two!")

– "De inleiding staat op bladzijde twee."
("The introduction is on page two.")

– "Overmorgen is het twee juni."
("The day after tomorrow will be the second of June.")

– "De twee vrienden gingen op avontuur in de jungle."
("The two friends went on an adventure in the jungle.")

– "Een biertje kost vaak meer dan twee euro…belachelijk!"
("A beer often costs more than two euros…ridiculous!")

– "De moeder brak de reep chocolade in tweeën en gaf de stukken aan haar kinderen."
("The mother broke the chocolate bar in two and gave the pieces to her children.")

– "Ik ga twee keer per week hardlopen."
("I go jogging twice a week.")

– "Het is kwart voor twee."
("It’s a quarter to two.")

– "Gezellig, met z’n tweetjes op de bank!"
("Nice/cosy, (just) the two of us on the couch!")

– "Een tafel voor twee alstublieft."
("A table for two please.")

Expressions:
– "Twee ogen zien meer dan één": four eyes see more than two / two heads are better than one.

– "Als twee honden vechten om een been, loopt de derde ermee heen": two dogs fight for a bone, and a third runs away with it.

– "Een gewaarschuwd man / mens telt voor twee": forewarned, forearmed. Lit.: a warned man/human counts for two.

Related words:
– "Tweede": second.
– "Een": one.
– "Drie": three.
– "Paar": pair.
– "Dubbel": double.

In Dutch the words for the article ‘a’ and the number ‘one’ are
often spelled the same: ‘een’. However, they differ in pronunciation.
When
it is not clear from context, we write ‘één’ for ‘one’. In any case,
when you mean to say ‘one’, you have to pronounce it as ‘één’ (‘een’,
in Dutch phonetic script).

1. a [article; ‘un’]

Not much to write here 🙂 However, there is one typical Dutch use
of ‘een’. In recent years it has become popular to use ‘een’ in
combination with a person or an entity, in order to make a comparison
with the category that that person or entity belongs to. Ok, I guess an
example will clarify, see below.

Examples:
– “Er zwemt een eendje in de vijver.”
(“A (small) duck/duckling is swimming in the pond.”)

– “Grote atleten hebben in dit stadion records gebroken; ik noem een Carl Lewis, een Nelly Cooman, een Haile Gebreselassie…”
(“Great athletes have broken records in this stadium; I mention the likes of Carl Lewis, Nelly Cooman, Haile Gebreselassie…”)

– “Frank raadde zijn manager af de concurrentie aan te gaan met een KPN of een Telfort.”
(“Frank advised his manager not to compete with the likes of KPN or Telfort.)

2. one [number; ‘een’]

Examples:
– “Er zwemt één eendje in de vijver.”
(“One duck is swimming in the pond.”)

– “Niet één, maar twee eendjes zwemmen in de vijver.”
(“Not one, but two ducks are swimming in the pond.”)

– “Eén, twee, drie, vier, hoedje van, hoedje van…”
(First phrase of a classic Dutch song. The point here is that the capital E has no diacritic.)

3. equal [adverb; ‘een’]

Example:
“Alle mensen zijn een.”
(“All humans are equal.” Note that it is more common in Dutch to use the word ‘gelijk’ instead of ‘een’ in this context.)

beard [noun] [de baard, de baarden]

Examples:
– "Sinterklaas en de Kerstman hebben beiden een baard."
("Sinterklaas and Santa Claus both have a beard.")

– "Mijn vader had altijd een baard, maar onlangs heeft hij zich geschoren en dat ziet er heel gek uit!"
("My dad used to have a beard, but recently he shaved and it looks really weird!")

– "Ik wil wel een baard laten staan, maar verder dan een paar stoppels kom ik niet."
("I do want to keep a beard, but I don’t get past the stubs stage." Lit.: "… any further than a few stubs.")

Expression:
– "Hij heeft de baard in de keel.": (Lit.: "he has the beard in his throat") This is said when the pitch of the voice of young boys in their puberty keeps switching between low and high. In general, it is used to indicate that ‘he is turning into a man’ (of which obviously the growth of a beard is a sign).

Related words:
– "Bakkebaarden": sideburns.
– "Snor": moustache.
– "Scheren": to shave.
– "Sik": goatee.
– "Ringbaard": fringe of beard.
– "Stoppelbaard(je)": stubble (beard).

Extra:
There is quite some ‘beard terminology’ in Dutch. Here is a list with a few examples:

– "Maandagochtendbaardje": like "stoppelbaardje". Literally: Monday morning beard.

– "Ruud-Lubbers-baard": stubble beard that you can’t seem to get rid off even though you shave every day, like the one Ruud Lubbers always has (former prime minister of the Netherlands, and former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)).

– "Pratende kut": very very informal, but very common synonym for a fringe of beard, literally "talking c*nt".