basket [noun] [het mandje, de mandjes]

– "In deze winkel is het verplicht om een mandje te gebruiken."
("In this store it’s mandatory to use a shopping basket.")

– "Ik gebruik liever een mandje dan een karretje."
("I’d rather use a basket than a cart.")

– "Toen Frank ziek thuis lag, kreeg hij van zijn collega’s een fruitmandje opgestuurd."
("When Frank was ill at home, his colleagues sent him a basket of fruit." Literally: "… was lying ill at home, he was sent a basket of fruit…")

cash register, cash desk, checkout [noun] [de kassa, de kassa’s]

Examples:
– “U kunt betalen bij de kassa.”
(“You can pay at the cash desk.”)

– “Er staat een enorme rij bij de kassa!”
(“There’s a huge queue/line at the checkout!”)

– “In kleine winkeltjes wordt soms nog een ouderwetse mechanische kassa gebruikt.”
(“In small (little) shops sometimes an old-fashioned mechanical cash register is still used.”)

Related words:
– “Kassakorting”: an extra discount (“korting”) that you will receive once you pay at the “kassa”.
– “Afrekenen”: to pay (for goods or a service).
– “Betalen”: to pay (in general).
– “Kassameisje”: girl at the cash register/checkout. See also ‘Extra’.
– “Kassajuffrouw”: in case it is more of a woman than a girl 🙂

Expressions:
– “Kassa erbij!”: “add a check-out!”. This you might hear when the supermarket personnel notices that people are queueing up too much. The “Albert Heijn” supermarket has displays that say “3 in de rij, kassa erbij!”, which they of course don’t do.

– “Kassa!”
1. <in case something is (too) expensive> “What a rip off!”
2. <in case someone is lucky> “Bingo!” / “Jackpot!”

Extra:
In The Netherlands, there’s the common prejudice that girls working at
the checkout of a supermarket are not too bright. This prejudice is
parodied by “De Vliegende Panters“, a Dutch group of cabaret performers; the song is about the promiscuous behaviour of one of the “kassameisjes”.

supermarket [noun] [de supermarkt, de supermarkten]

The concept of a “supermarket” became popular in the Netherlands in the 60s. The introduction of the supermarket was a bit of a revolution as it differed very much from the traditional “kruidenier” (follow the link for a picture); small local shops named after the (often) male owner (the word “kruid” translates to “herb”).

Some people still prefer the smaller specialty shops, that often have products of better quality. Of course you pay more 🙂

In the Netherlands quite a few chains of supermarkets exist ranging in price and presentation (some would argue that service is absent in all of them, but you can get free coffee at Albert Heijn 🙂 ). Well known are Albert Heijn, C1000 and Jumbo, but there are many more (the smaller ones sometimes changing names in different regions of the country). The sizes of Dutch supermarkets are still modest compared to other countries, but Albert Heijn is making an effort with their XL concept.

Although some expats still complain about the limited opening hours of Dutch supermarkets, there used to be a time when they all closed at 6 p.m. (only in the last decade this has changed bit by bit). We would definitely have starved if that would still be the case now 😉

Examples:
– “Tot hoe laat is de supermarkt open?”
(“Until what time is the supermarket open?”)

– “Mag ik u wat vragen? Weet u een supermarkt in de buurt?”
(“Can I ask you something? Do you know of a supermarkt nearby?” Literally: “… in this neighbourhood?”)

– “Sorry, maar ze hadden geen tandpasta meer in de supermarkt.”
(“I’m sorry, but they ran out of toothpaste in the supermarket.” Literally: “they had no more toothpaste”.)

– “Voor verse groenten ga ik liever naar de groenteboer dan naar de supermarkt.”
(“For fresh vegetables I’d rather go to the greengrocery than to the supermarket.”)

Related words:
– “Markt”: market. In Dutch towns the word “Markt” is often part of names of squares or streets, such as “Grote Markt” (“big market”) or “Vismarkt” (“fish market”).
– “Boodschappen doen”: to do/buy groceries. The word “boodschap” translates to “message”.

Extra:
This video was first linked in DWOTD 3. Zakje, but is of course also applicable here. Check out this British comedian joking about Albert Heijn and the way Dutch people buy their fruit and vegetables…

love [noun] [de liefde, de liefdes]

Today we conclude the love theme with the word itself: "liefde"… Its use in Dutch is similar to its use in English.

Examples:
– "Liefde maakt blind."
("Love is blind." Literally: "Love makes blind.")

– "Franks liefde voor zijn auto lijkt groter dan de liefde voor zijn vrouw."
("Frank’s love for his car seems greater than the love for his wife."

– "Niets is sterker dan de liefde van een moeder voor haar kind."
("Nothing is stronger than the love of a mother for her child.")

– "Liefde is een vreemde ziekte." See ‘Extra’.
("Love is a strange disease.")

Related words:
– "Verliefdheid": lovesickness, infatuation, crush.
– "Smoorverliefd (op)" / "smoor (op)": <informal> very much in love (with), crazy (about), infatuated (with).
– "Stapelverliefd (op)" / "stapel (op)": synonym of "smoorverliefd" / "smoor".
– "Houden van": to love.
– "Minnaar": lover. (Usually in the context of an extramarital affair, from the verb "beminnen": to love amorously).

Expression:
– "De liefde van een man gaat door de / zijn maag."
("The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach." Literally: "A man’s love goes through his stomach.")