Author Archives: Marc

Bedoeling

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1. intention, aim, purpose, idea, meaning [noun] [de bedoeling, de bedoelingen] [‘bu-doe-ling’] Iconspeaker_klein_2

Although the literal translation of "bedoeling" is "intention", it is used so often in Dutch in various contexts with subtle differences that many descriptive translations will apply. Especially the following phrase you may see a lot: "Het is de bedoeling dat…", which would literally translates to "It is the intention/idea that…" but which would best be translated with the hint "You’re supposed to…" (where the subject "you" can be substituted by any other person or subject).

Examples:419_bedoeling_2
– "Is het jouw bedoeling om mij te beledigen?"
("Is it your intention to insult me?")

– "Frank, het is de bedoeling dat je eerst de gebruiksaanwijzing leest."
("Frank, you’re supposed to read the manual first.")

– "Vrees niet, ik heb geen kwade bedoelingen." – "Ik geloof u niet!"
("Fear not, I have no cruel intentions." – "I don’t believe you!")

Expressions:
– "Met de beste bedoelingen": with the best of intentions.

Related words:
– "Doel": goal, purpose.
– "Intentie": intention.
– "Betekenis": meaning.

2. odd situation, fuss, ado [noun] [de bedoeling, de bedoelingen] [‘bu-doe-ling’] Iconspeaker_klein_2

The use of "bedoeling" in this context is in fact incorrect! It is actually "bedoening", but a lot of people say "bedoeling" instead. "Bedoeling/bedoening" is used informally and refers to an out of the ordinary situation going on.

Examples:
– "Ik vind dit een rare bedoeling…"
("I think this is a strange situation (going on)…")

– "Fraaie bedoeling is dit, eet ik bij een drie-sterren restaurant, drijft er een vlieg in mijn soep!"
("How nice, I’m eating at a three star restaurant, and there’s a fly in my soup!")

Related words:
– "Bedoening": odd situation, fuss.
– "Gedoe": fuss, hassle.
– "Situatie": situation.
– "Toestand": state.

IJsje

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ice cream, ice lolly, pop sicle [noun] [het ijsje, de ijsjes] [‘ijs-ju’] Iconspeaker_klein

For more info on the vowel "IJ" see "Why the IJ?"  Raket_ijsje_4

"IJsje" is the diminutive of "ijs", which translates to either "ice" (as in frozen water) or "ice cream" (as in the delicacy). An "IJsje" can be used for a hand held ice cream in a cone (like a vanilla ice cream) or a pop sicle (a frozen lolly of flavored water), which in Dutch is also called a "waterijsje".

Examples:
– "Mam, mag ik een ijsje?"
("Mom, can I have an ice cream?")

– "Omdat het vandaag zo warm is, trakteert Frank op een ijsje!"
("Because it’s so hot today, Frank is treating us to an ice cream!")

– "Hoeveel bollen neem jij in je hoorntje?" – "Nou, ik heb liever een waterijsje."
("How many scoops will you have in your cone?" – "Well, I’d rather have a pop sicle.")

 Related words:
– "Hoorntje": cone.
– "IJscoman": ice-cream man/vendor.

Extra:
We’ve already mentioned it in one of our early DWOTDs: Holland’s most popular ice lolly is the "Raket". Apparently, it has been around since 1962! It has (somewhat 🙂 ) the shape of a rocket, and consists of three flavors of water ice, which each have a different color. From top to bottom: red strawberry, orange orange, and yellow pineapple, as you can see in the picture.