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.

broom [noun] [de bezem, de bezems; ‘bee-zum’]

The first "e" in "bezem" is pronounced a long "e", like in "feest". The second one is pronounced a bit like the "i" in the English "dirt", which we will call a silent "e" (for now). The act of cleaning with a broom is "bezemen". Now, if you wouldn’t know that "bezemen" is derived from "bezem", the normal Dutch vowel convention dictates the first "e" to be silent (as is usually the case with verbs starting with "be"), the second to be long (since it is followed by one consonant and one vowel) and the third "e" would be silent again, as it mostly is at the end of a multiple syllable word. However, "bezemen" is pronounced like "bezem" with an added "en", the latter having the expected silent "e". Ah, let’s just forget about it!

Example:
– "Mijn oma bezemde altijd het voetpad voor haar huis."
("My grandma used to broom the footpath in front of her house." In Dutch the English "used to (do something)" is often translated with the past tense and the word "altijd", which means "always".)

Expression:
– "Er de bezem door halen": to make a clean sweep (of something). Literally: "to take the broom through something".

Example:
"Het wordt tijd dat we de bezem halen door overbodige overheidsregels."
("It is about time that we make a clean sweep of unnecessary government rules.")

Related words:
– "Bezemsteel": broomstick.
– "Heks": witch.

Extra:
Read more about brooms at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broom .

(floor-)cloth, rag, mop, swab [noun] [de dweil, de dweilen]

The verb that goes with "dweil" is "dweilen", which translates to "to mop (down)".

"Dweil" is also used as a metaphor for a physically weak person or a mentally weak person (say, a loser).

Examples:
– "Heb je een dweil in huis? Ik heb een glas wijn op de grond laten vallen."
("Do you have a mop (in your house)? I dropped a glas of wine on the floor." The expression "in huis hebben" ("to have in house") is used to say that something is present (in your house). In English you would not really use this.)

– "Door die verkoudheid voel ik me zo slap als een dweil."
("Due to that cold I feel really feeble." Literally: "…as flabby as a cloth.")

– "Heb je haar nieuwe vriend gezien? Wat een dweil is dat zeg…"
("Have you seen her new boyfriend? What a loser (is he, say)…")

Expression:
– "Dat is dweilen met de kraan open": "That’s a waste of time and effort". Literally: "That’s mopping with the tap running".

Related words:
– "Dweilen": to mop (down).
– "Sopje": (soap)suds.

vacuum cleaner [noun] [de stofzuiger, de stofzuigers]

"Stof" translates to "dust", and the verb "zuigen" means "to suck". Now imagine going to a store to buy a "dust sucker". In the Netherlands you can!

Examples:
– "Deze week zijn de stofzuigers in de aanbieding bij de Mediamarkt."
("This week the vacuum cleaners are on sale at Mediamarkt.")

– "Ik heb een hekel aan afwassen, maar stofzuigen vind ik niet zo erg."
("I hate doing the dishes, but I don’t mind vacuum cleaning that much.")

Related words:
– "Stofzuigen": to vacuum clean.
– "Stofzuigerzak": vacuum cleaner bag.