Author Archives: Dutch Gurus

Lachen

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to laugh
[verb]
[lachen, lachte, gelachen]

Examples:
1. "Lachen is gezond!"
("Laughter is the best medicine!" Literally: "It’s healthy to laugh!")

2. "Ik had tranen in mijn ogen van het lachen."
("I had tears in my eyes from laughing.")

3. "Heb je de film ‘Borat’ gezien? Lachen man!"
("Have you seen the movie ‘Borat’? Really funny!" Literally: "to laugh, man!")

4. "Laat me niet lachen!"
(<sarcastically:>"Don’t make me laugh!" or "who are you kidding!")

Expressions:
1. "Wie het laatst lacht, lacht het best."
("He laughs best who laughs last.")

2. "Lachen als een boer met kiespijn."
("To laugh sourly", literally: "to laugh like a farmer with a toothache")

Related words:
1. "Uitlachen": to laugh at someone.
2. "Glimlachen": to smile.
3. "Lach": laugh.
4. "Gelach": laughter.
5. "Lachwekkend": laughable, ridiculous.

Example:
– "Hoe was de voorstelling?" – "Het was een lachwekkende vertoning!"
("How was the show?" – "It was a ridiculous display!")

6. "Huilen": to cry.

Slapen

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Grammar: <slapen> [verb] [sliep, h. geslapen].

Translates to: to sleep.

Examples:
1. "Frankt kon vannacht niet slapen door twee vechtende katers."
("Frank couldn’t sleep last night because of two fighting tomcats." See also "DWOTD 84. Kater".)

2. "Als gevolg zat Frank te slapen tijdens een belangrijke vergadering."
("As a consequence, Frank was sleeping during an important meeting.")

3. "Als je een appartement koopt, moet je goed opletten of de ‘Vereniging van Eigenaren’ slapend of actief is."
("When buying an apartment, one needs to check carefully whether the ‘Cooperation of Owners/Residence Association’ is dormant or active.")

4. "Slaap lekker!"
("Sleep well!")

5. "Ik wil alleen maar slapen!"
("I only/just want to sleep". The construction "Ik wil alleen maar …" is also often used to say more explicitly that "The only thing I want is…")

6. "Hoe laat ga jij meestal slapen?" – "Om half elf."
("At what time do you usually go to bed?" – "At half past ten.")

Expression:
"Je moet geen slapende honden wakker maken.": (one has to) let sleeping dogs lie. Literally: "one must not wake up sleeping dogs".

Related words:
1. "Verslapen": to oversleep.
2. "Uitslapen": to sleep late.
3. "Gapen": to yawn.
4. "Slaperig": sleepy.
5. "Slaapkop": sleepy head.
6. "Dromen": to dream.
7. "Kussen": pillow.
8. "Bed": bed.
9. "Winterslaap": hibernation (of animals).

Saai

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boring, dull [adjective]

Examples:
1. "Veel mensen vinden politiek erg saai."
("Many people find politics very boring.")

2. "Wat een saaie doos is zij, zeg!"
("Man, she’s really boring." Literally: "Say, she’s a real boring box!" The use of the word
‘doos’ for a woman is derogatory. See DWOTD 1. Doos.)

3. "Frank vindt zijn werk vaak erg saai."
("Often, Frank finds his work very boring.")

4. "Hoe was de voorstelling?" – "Erg saai."
("How was the show?" – "Very boring.")

5. "Dit is best een saaie DWOTD!"
("This is quite a boring DWOTD!)

Related words:
1. "Suf": dull. The common translation for "suf" would be: drowsy, slow(-witted).
2. "Monotoon": monotone.
3. "Eentonig": monotone. Literally: "of one tone".

Uitslag

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outcome/result, rash
[noun]
[de uit-slag, de uit-sla-gen]

Examples:
– "De uitslagen van de verkiezingen veroorzaakten veel commotie." 
("The
results of the elections caused a lot of commotion.")

– "De leider van de Socialistische Partij was erg tevreden met de
uitslag." 
("The leader of the Socialist Party was very content with
the outcome.")

– "Frank kreeg spontaan uitslag toen hij de verkiezingsuitslagen
vernam." 
("When Frank learnt the results of the elections, he got a
spontaneous rash." Although this does not make any sense, the figurative expression
"uitslag krijgen" is quite common in Dutch to describe an unpleasant
emotional response.)

– "Elke maandag staan de voetbaluitslagen in de krant." 
("Every
Monday the football/soccer results are in the newspaper.")

– "De uitslag van het examen is nog niet bekend." 
("The result(s)
of the exam is not yet known.")

– "Frank had uitslag van het scheren." 
("Frank had a rash from
shaving.")

Related words:
1. "Resultaat": result.
2. "Zetel": seat (in parliament).
3.
"Jeuk": itch(ing).

Verkiezing

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*** Dutch general elections today ***

Grammar: <verkiezing> [noun] [de verkiezing, de verkiezingen].

Translates to: election.

Examples:
1. "Vanochtend zijn in Nederland de verkiezingen voor de Tweede Kamer begonnen."
("This morning, the elections for the "Tweede Kamer" have commenced in the Netherlands.")
See also ‘Extra’.

2. "In Amerika is verkiezingskoorts een veel groter fenomeen dan in Nederland."
("Electoral fever is a much bigger phenomenon in the U.S. than it is in the Netherlands.")

3. "Frank kijkt graag miss-verkiezingen op televisie."
("Frank likes to watch beauty contests on television." See also "DWOTD 82. Kijken".)

Related Words:
1. "Verkiezen": to prefer (literally: to forchoose).
2. "Kiezen": to choose.
3. "Stemlokaal": polling station/place, the place where people can vote.

Extra:
The Dutch "Tweede Kamer" (literally: Second Chamber) is another name for the Parliament. It is composed of 150 members of different political parties representing the people.
The political party that wins the elections, gets the first right to form a coalition that has the majority in the Tweede Kamer (because there’s never a single party with absolute majority).
When a coalition has been formed, negotiations start to form the "kabinet": the board of ministers and the prime-minister. The biggest political party usually brings forward the candidate prime-minister. Once the other minister posts have been divided among the coalition parties, the candidate prime-minister and his cabinet are officially appointed by the queen.