Author Archives: Dutch Gurus

Verkeersbord

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road/traffic sign
[noun]
[het ver-keers-bord, de ver-keers-bor-den]

Traffic in the Netherlands is a bit overregulated. You can’t really go wrong 😉
However, while trying to interpret all these traffic signs, of which the density in the Netherlands is very high, one almost forgets to actually pay attention to traffic!

The Dutch word for traffic is "verkeer". A "bord" in general is some kind of flat shape for display. Most common usages are a "plate" for food, a "sign" of some sort, or a "black/white board" (the latter translating to "schoolbord" at school or just "white board" in the office).

Examples:
– "Neemt u mij niet kwalijk; dat verkeersbord heb ik niet gezien!"
(<to a police officer:>"I beg your pardon; I did not see that traffic sign!")

– "De dichtheid van verkeersborden in Nederland is zeer hoog."
("The density of traffic signs in the Netherlands is very high.")

– "Dit verkeersbord vind ik echt extreem onduidelijk!"
("I find this traffic sign really extremely unclear!")

– "Als de stoplichten buiten werking zijn, moet je goed op de verkeersborden letten."
("When traffic lights are out of order, one has to pay good attention to the traffic signs.")

– "Verkeersbord? Welk verkeersbord??"
("Traffic sign? What traffic sign??")

Related words:
– "Stoplicht": traffic light.
– "Voorrang": right of way.

Extra:
In the Netherlands traffic coming from the right has right of way. This is implicit unless otherwise indicated. The fact that you have to give way can be indicated by the common "upside down triangle" sign or by certain marks on the road. These marks are the same upside down triangles, facing you as you look down on the road. In Dutch these are called "haaientanden" ("shark teeth"). To be on the safe side the Dutch authorities usually include the "haaientanden" in addition to the traffic sign.

File

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traffic jam, queue [noun] [de file, de files]

Dutch traffic jams are a daily source of great annoyance. Every year the total amount of cars queueing up increases significantly.

Examples:
– "Er zijn vandaag veel files door het slechte weer."
("There are a lot of traffic jams today due to the bad weather.")

– "Er staat een ongebruikelijk file op de N44 door een ongeval."
("There’s an unusual traffic jam at the N44 road due to an accident." Literally: "There stands a traffic jam…")

– "Heb jij wel eens geflirt in de file met andere bestuurders?"
("Have you ever flirted in a traffic jam with other drivers?")

– "Bij de H&M staan er altijd enorme files bij de kassa’s, echt irritant!"
("At H&M, there are always huge queues in front of the cash desks, really annoying!" The use of the word "file" here is to exaggerate. The normal Dutch word for "queue" is "rij".)

Related words:
– "Bestuurder": driver.
– "Ongeval": accident.
– "Ongeluk": accident, bad luck.

Extra:
Reducing traffic and traffic jams is always a popular subject for political campaigning. Right wing parties typically favour a solution with more road surface, whereas left wing parties typically favour a solution with better means of public transportation and higher road taxes. In this context, the possible introduction of "rekeningrijden" (literally "bill driving") is a popular theme. Here the idea is to register road use in certain areas during certain times for which you are "billed" later. Contrary to toll roads where you usually pay to finance the road, this policy is to deter you from using the car at that time or place. It has not been introduced yet.

Check out the current traffic conditions at the ANWB site: the General Dutch Association for Automobile Drivers, since 1883.

The word "file" appeared earlier in DWOTD 99. Bijna.

Zebrapad

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zebra/pedestrian crossing [noun] [het <zebra><pad>, de zebrapaden]

"Zebrapad" literally translates to "zebra path", but is often abbreviated to "zebra". This is the place where you are supposed to cross the roads in the Netherlands. However, jaywalking is common practice. Unless you ignore a red light, the police will not bother with you.
Also, drivers are supposed to give way to you when you are waiting at a "zebra" and "have the intention" to cross the road. Nowadays, it is common for pedestrians to wave a thank you at drivers as it is by no means normal anymore that they will stop for pedestrians.

Examples:
– "Voetgangers behoren de weg over te steken bij een zebrapad."
("Pedestrians are required to cross the road at a pedestrian crossing.")

– "Automobilisten moeten voorrang verlenen aan voetgangers als deze de intentie hebben het zebrapad te betreden."
("Drivers have to give way to pedestrians when these intend to set foot onto the zebra crossing." Literally: "… when these have the intention to …")

Related words:
– "Voetganger": pedestrian.
– "Voetgangersoversteekplaats": crossing(-place), pedestrian crossing (literally: place for pedestrians to cross).

Stoplicht

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traffic light [noun] [het stoplicht, de stoplichten]

This week’s theme is “traffic objects” 🙂

Dutch traffic lights change from green to orange/yellow to red. However, they change directly from red to green, contrary to some other countries (like Germany for example).

A big source of annoyance in the Netherlands is the inefficiency of traffic lights. In the Hague it is quite normal to wait a long time and when you finally get a green light, you move for 30 metres and queue up at the next traffic light, or just see it turn to red as soon as you approach. There is no such thing as a green wave (and no, this is in no way based on our personal experience and no we are not frustrated 🙂 ). However, we advise you to never drive through red but just increase your speed between the traffic lights as the fine for speeding is lower than for ignoring a red traffic light 🙂 . See ‘Extra’.

Also, it can take quite some time before your traffic light switches to green after the crossing traffic has halted. This is supposed to be a safety measure but of course only encourages people to still dare to cross, like pedestrians and cyclists often do. Sometimes, we all just look at each other for 30 seconds before a light turns to green. Quite often cyclists have had enough by then and choose to ignore the red light. Of course at exactly that moment the other traffic light turns to green and again a dangerous situation occurs.

Maybe we should all just drive like the people in Naples, Italy 🙂

Examples:
– “Bij de stoplichten linksaf.”
(“Turn left at the traffic lights.” Literally: “At the traffic lights to the left.”)

– “Als het stoplicht op groen springt, mag je doorrijden.”
(“When the traffic light turns green, you can drive on.” Literally: “When the traffic light jumps to green…”)

– “Ik heb een boete van 130 euro gekregen omdat ik door rood ben gereden.”
(“I got a fine for driving through a red light.” Literally: …because I drove through red.”)

Related words:
– “Kruising”: crossing, junction.

Kruimeldief

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dustbuster [noun] [de <kruimel><dief>, de kruimeldieven]

The word "kruimeldief" literally translates to "crumb thief" or "thief of crumbs". You can use it as a translation for a "petty thief", or – as we do in this DWOTD – as the name of one of those small hand-held battery powered vacuum cleaners.
Although "kruimeldief" is the most common word that is used for such a vacuum cleaner, in shops it will also be called a "kruimelzuiger" ("crumb sucker") or a "handzuiger" ("hand sucker" – whatever that means!).

Examples:
– "Je kunt een bank het makkelijkste stofzuigen met een kruimeldief."
("Vacuum cleaning a sofa with a dustbuster is the most convenient." Literally: "You can vacuum clean a sofa the easiest…")

– "Als een man met blote borst chips heeft gegeten, is het handig om het borsthaar met een kruimeldief te stofzuigen."
("When a man has eaten crisps/potato chips while being bare chested, it is convenient to vacuum clean the chest hair with a dustbuster." Literally: "… with bare chest…")

Related words:
– "Kruimelen": to crumble.
– "Stofzuiger": vacuum cleaner.