Author Archives: Dutch Gurus

Spijkerbroek

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Grammar: <spijker> <broek> [noun] [de spijkerbroek, de spijkerbroeken].

Translates to: (pair of) jeans (literally: (pair of) nail trousers).

"Spijkerbroek" consists of two words:
1. "Spijker": nail.
2. "Broek": pair of trousers, pants.
The name "jeans" is derived from the name of the Italian city where jeans were first created: Genova (source: wikipedia). Although popular English words are quite commonly used in the Dutch language, and the same holds for "jeans", the Dutch "spijkerbroek" is still in favour. In the 1850s Levi Strauss had a customer who suggested to reinforce the points of strain on the jeans with copper rivets. These look a bit like nails and that is why we talk about "nail pants/trousers"!
Examples:
1. "Morgen ga ik de stad in om een nieuwe spijkerbroek te kopen."
("Tomorrow I am going downtown to buy a new pair of jeans.")
2. "Mijn favoriete spijkerbroekenmerk is Diesel."
("Diesel is my favourite jeans brand.")
Related word:
"Hamer": hammer. See "DWOTD (46): Hamer".
Extra:
Read more on the history of jeans at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeans.
The word "spijkerbroek" appeared earlier in "DWOTD (47): Das " and "DWOTD (63): Rits".

Herhaling

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Grammar: <herhaling> [noun] [de herhaling, de herhalingen].

Translates to: repetition, repeat.

The verb that goes with "herhaling" is "herhalen": to repeat, to revise.

In Dutch, verbs that represent an action that is repeated often start with "her" or "re".

Examples:
1. "De trein naar Brussel vertrekt van spoor 4. Herhaling: de trein naar … "
("The train to Brussels leaves from track 4. Repeat: the train to …")

2. "Mijn telefoonnummer is 070-1123581. Ik herhaal: mijn telefoonnummer …"
("My telephone number is … . I repeat: my …")

3. "Kunt u dat herhalen? Mijn Nederlands is nog niet zo goed."
("Can you repeat that? My Dutch is not yet that good.")

4. "De eerste twee lessen herhalen we de stof van het afgelopen jaar."
("The first two lessons we revise last year’s material.")

Related word:
"Repetitie": rehearsal (for a show), test (in high school, comprehensive school).

Examples:
1. "Vanavond hebben we generale repetitie."
("Tonight we have the final rehearsal.")

2. "Morgen heb ik repetitie Wiskunde."
("Tomorrow I have a math test.")

Rits

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zipper, series, row, collection, bunch
[noun]
[de rits, de rit-sen]

You can turn "rits" into a verb by adding -en. The verb "ritsen" translates to "to zip (up)" or can be used for merging lanes, see Extra below.

Examples:
– "Spijkerbroeken hebben nu vaak knoopjes in plaats van een rits."
("Nowadays, jeans often have buttons instead of a zipper.")

– "Je rits staat open!"
("Your zipper is open!")

– "In de wachtkamer lag een hele rits tijdschriften op tafel."
("In the waiting room, a whole bunch of magazines was lying on the table.)

Extra:
In the Netherlands, the verb "ritsen" has also become known in the context of cars joining traffic on a motorway lane, especially when four lanes become three, or three lanes become two. The government even shows tv commercials on how the "ritsen" should be performed, that is: one a time!

Writer’s note:
The Dutch are known to be tolerant people. This is only superficially true. The Dutch are essentially arrogant and selfish on the motorway at the point where "ritsen" takes place. Maybe this is a way to blow off some steam after all the tolerance 🙂

A Dutch driver’s motto is "traffic is war" but of course this is still nothing compared to other countries 😉

Trouwen

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to marry, to get married
[verb]
[trouw-de, h. ge-trouwd]

The noun that goes with "trouwen" is "trouw": loyalty, faith(fulness).

In the Netherlands, in general getting married is more a choice than that it is expected, although in some subcultures this will be different.

Examples:
1. "Wanneer gaan jullie trouwen?"
("When are you getting married?")

2. "Zijn jullie getrouwd?"
(<to a couple:> "Are you married?")

3. "Mag ik je voorstellen aan mijn man/vrouw?"
("May I introduce you to my husband/wife?")

Related words:
1. "Bruid": bride.
2. "Bruidegom": groom.
3. "Bruiloft": wedding party. The wedding itself is more often called "trouwerij".
4. "Huwelijk": marriage.
5. "Echtgenoot/echtgenote": spouse (male/female).

Knokken

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Grammar: <knokken> [verb] [knokte, h. geknokt].

Translates to: to fight (informal, also figurative).

Examples:
1. “Er waren twee jongens op straat aan het knokken.”
(“There were two boys fighting in the street.”)

2. “Frank heeft hard moeten knokken voor zijn huidige functie.”
(“Frank has had to fight hard for his current position.”)

Related words:
1. “Knokkel”: knuckle (so “knokken” literally means something like “to knuckle”…)

Example:
“De knokkels van zijn samengebalde vuisten werden wit.”
(“The knuckles of his clenched fists became white.”)

2. “Knokpartij”: fight, scuffle.

Example:
“Na de voetbalwedstrijd waren er diverse knokpartijtjes.”
(“After the soccergame there were several small fights.”)

3. “Vuist”: fist.

Extra:
“Knokke” is the name of a Belgian beach town, close to the border with the Netherlands. It is known for its exclusive and pricy villas and apartments which are often kept as a second house. Because of the many fashion stores, art galleries and restaurants, Knokke is also called “Petit Paris”.