Category Archives: Dutch word of the day

Overlast

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nuisance, annoyance, inconvenience, harassment
[noun]
[de o-ver-last, <no plural>] 

road-construction-192894_640‘Overlast’ is used for any type of serious inconvenience, e.g. ‘verkeersoverlast’ (traffic related), ‘geluidsoverlast’ (noise pollution/nuisance) or ‘stankoverlast’ (caused by stench).

In general you can say ‘er is overlast van […]’: there is a lot of annoyance/inconvenience caused by […]’. The base noun is ‘last’: nuisance, trouble, inconvenience. The ‘over’ in ‘overlast’ implies that it is really too much 🙂

Examples:
– “Er is in dit gebouw veel geluidsoverlast en dat zou je toch niet verwachten aangezien het recent gebouwd is.” 
(“There is a lot of noise nuisance in this building and that’s not what one would expect given that it was built recently.”)

– “In sommige straten van Den Haag is er verkeersoverlast. De gemeente heeft een nieuw verkeerscirculatieplan geïmplementeerd, maar het blijft behelpen zonder ringweg.” 
(“In some streets in The Hague there is traffic nuisance. The city has implemented a new traffic circulation plan, but without a ring road / beltway it will remain somewhat problematic.” Note ‘het blijft behelpen…’: it will always be suboptimal, it will always remain somewhat problematic…)

– “Wij hebben geen enkele overlast van hangjongeren, maar ik kan me voorstellen dat het in sommige buurten de spuigaten uit loopt.” 
(“We experience no nuisance by loitering teens at all, but I can imagine that things get completely out of control in certain neighbourhoods.”)

– “Bewoners in de regio Rotterdam hebben geklaagd over stankoverlast. Het vermoeden is dat er schadelijke dampen zijn vrijgekomen in de omgeving.” 
(“Inhabitants of the Rotterdam region have complained about stench (nuisance). It is suspected that noxious fumes have been released in the area.”)

– “Er is in de binnenstad veel overlast van wildplassers. Om dat tegen te gaan worden er in steeds meer steden zogeheten ‘plaskruizen’ geïnstalleerd; deze komen ‘s avonds tevoorschijn en verdwijnen overdag ondergronds.” 
(“Urinating in public is a big pest in town centres. In order to fight this nuisance, in many cities so-called ‘plaskruizen’ are installed; these appear in the evenings and disappear underground during the day.” The name ‘plaskruis’ is taken from the shape of the portable version, see picture on the right. A ‘wildplasser’ is a man who urinates in public (‘peeing in the wild’).)

Related words:
– Herrie: (loud) noise [noun [de herrie, <no plural>].
– Last: trouble, nuisance, load [noun] [de last, de lasten].
– Lastpost: troublemaker [noun] [de lastpost, de lastposten].
– Lastigvallen: to harass [verb] [viel lastig, lastiggevallen].
– Asociaal gedrag: rude/antisocial behaviour [noun] [het gedrag, <no plural>].

Tenenkrommend

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cringeworthy, toe-curling, cringe-making, cringingly
[adjective/adverb]
[te-nen-krom-mend] 

When something is very bad, and perhaps even to the point that it is embarrassing, you may bend your toes in response to what you witness. ‘Bending one’s toes’ in Dutch is ‘je tenen krommen’ and when something makes you bend your toes, we call it ‘tenenkrommend’ (‘toe bending’). It can be used both as an adjective and adverb. Obviously it has a negative connotation 🙂

I could only found ‘cringing(ly)’ as a translation, so am happy to receive suggestions!

Examples:
– “Heb je gisteravond naar ‘the voice of Holland‘ gekeken?” – “Ja, dat tweede optreden was echt tenenkrommend slecht!” 
(“Did you watch ‘the voice of Holland’ yesterday evening?” – “Yes, the second performance was so bad, it was embarrassing!”)

– “En, hoe was de kersttoespraak van de directeur? Ik had geen tijd om te gaan…” – “Nou, je hebt niks gemist hoor. En zijn grapjes waren ook dit jaar weer tenenkrommend!” 
(“So, how was the (managing) director’s Christmas speech? I didn’t have time to go…” – “Well, you haven’t missed a thing… And also this year again his jokes were terribly bad.”)

– “Onze bedrijfsfeestjes zijn altijd tenenkrommend; dan moeten we met de baas karaoke doen, of één of ander suf rollenspel.” 
(“Our office/company parties are always embarrassingly bad; we have to participate in karaoke with the boss, or do some stupid role playing game.”)

– “Was je bij de presentatie van Frank?!” – “Ja! Tenenkrommend gewoon!! Die gast moet echt weggepromoveerd worden!” 
(“Where you there at Frank’s presentation?” – “Yes! It was terrible! Embarrassing! This guy needs to be promoted so that we get rid of him!” Note the verb ‘wegpromoveren’: the act of promoting somebody with the mere objective to get rid of the person (if firing is not possible).)

Expressions:
– “Plaatsvervangende schaamte (voelen)”: (be) ashamed/embarrased for someone else.

Related words:
– Teen: toe [noun] [de teen, de tenen].
– Krommen: to bend, to curve [verb] [kromde, gekromd].
– Gênant: embarrassing [adjective].
– Schaamte: shame [noun] [de schaamte, <no plural>].
– Slecht: bad [adjective].

Goedgemutst

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good-humoured/tempered, in a good mood
[adjective]
[goed-ge-mutst] 

The origin of this adjective goes back to the days when the type of headgear people were wearing (and how they were wearing it) could be indicative of their mood. Literally it meant: wearing the hat well. Note that the Dutch noun ‘muts’ no longer is a general word for headgear; it typically refers to the kind of hat that you can pull over your ears and is made of wool, or a wool like fabric, see DWOTD Muts.

‘Goedgemutst’ is slightly colloquial; a common more formal synonym is ‘goedgehumeurd’.

Examples:
– “Zo, wat ben jij goedgemutst vandaag!” – “Klopt, vandaag is de eerste dag van mijn vakantie!” 
(“You are in quite a good mood today!” – “That’s right, today is the first day of my holiday!” Note that ‘vakantie’ is typically used for a longer period of time-off.)

– “Zij is echt prettig gezelschap, altijd goedgemutst en daar word je zelf ook heel vrolijk van!” 
(“She is really pleasant company, always good-tempered and that really cheers you up as well!”)

– “Ik geef toe, ik ben niet echt het goedgemutste type bij uitstek, maar om nu te doen alsof ik altijd depressief ben, dat vind ik ook weer zo wat!” 
(“I admit, I’m not really an outstanding example of the good-humoured kind of guy, but to act as if I’m always depressed, that’s a bit too much to my liking.”)

– “Wat is er aan de hand? Vanochtend was je nog zo goedgemutst!” – “Ach houd toch op met dat goedgemutst, het is pokkenweer en het is koud! Daar word ik chagrijnig van! Laat me met rust!” 
(“What’s the matter? This morning you were in such a good mood!” – “Ah stop the ‘in such a good mood’ will you, it’s lousy weather and it’s cold! That makes miserable! Leave me alone!”)

Related words:
– Muts: hat, cap [noun] [de muts, de mutsen].
– Goedgehumeurd: good-humoured [adjective].
– Humeur: temper, mood [noun] [het humeur, <no plural>].
– Stemming: mood [noun] [de stemming, de stemmingen].
– Bui: mood [noun] [de bui, de buien].
– Vrolijk: cheerful, merry [adjective/adverb].
– Blij: happy, glad [adjective].
– Opgewekt: cheerful, lighthearted [adjective].

Chaos

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chaos, disorder, havoc
[noun]
[de cha-os] 

It helps to learn a language when one of its properties is order as opposed to chaos. It helps even more when the translation is exactly the same as the original! But I guess we have to thank the Greeks for that 🙂 .

Examples:
– “Hai met Max – ik ben wat later want ik sta vast op de N14; de sneeuw zorgt voor een verkeerschaos!” 
(“Hi it’s Max – I’ll be a bit later because I’m stuck on the N14; the snow is causing a traffic havoc!”)

– “Het feit dat ik wiskunde gestudeerd heb, impliceert niet dat ik een expert ben op het gebied van de chaostheorie.” 
(“The fact that I have a degree in mathematics does not imply I’m an expert in the area of chaos theory.” Lit.: “The fact that I have studied mathematics…”)

– “Kom binnen, welkom in mijn huis; sorry voor de troep, ik heb gisteren de kinderen over de vloer gehad en daarna is het altijd een beetje een chaos…” 
(“Come in, welcome (in to my home); I apologize for the mess, yesterday I had the kids over and it’s always a bit of a chaos after that…” Lit.: “I’ve had the kids over the floor yesterday…”)

– “Voordat we kunnen beginnen met het probleem te analyseren, moeten we eerst orde in de chaos brengen.” 
(“Before we can start analysing the problem, we first have to sort out the chaos.” Lit.: “…, we first have to bring order in the chaos.”)

– “U wilt aangifte doen van inbraak? Dat kan, wat is er gestolen?” – “Nou ziet u, de inbrekers hebben een enorme chaos achtergelaten waardoor het nog niet duidelijk is wat er precies gestolen is, maar er is in ieder geval ingebroken!” 
(“You wish to report a burglary? That’s possible, what has been stolen?” – “Well, you see, the burglars left behind a huge chaos and because of that it’s not yet clear what exactly has been stolen, but there was a burglary, that’s for sure!” Lit.: “… but in any case there has been broken into.”)

– “De stroom is uitgevallen op Utrecht Centraal Station waardoor er in zeer korte tijd totale chaos is ontstaan.” 
(“There’s a power failure at Utrecht Central Station and it has caused total chaos in a very short time.” Lit. “The power has dropped out … because of which in a very short time…)

Related words:
– Warboel: mess, tangle, mix-up [noun] [de warboel, <no plural>].
– Wanorde: disorder, confusion [noun] [de wanorde, <no plural>].
– Ongeordend: disorganized, unordered, disordered [adjective/adverb].

Example:
– “Ik geef toe dat hij een beetje een ongeordend type is, maar chaotisch zou ik hem niet willen noemen…”
(“I admit he is somewhat of a disorganized character, but I wouldn’t want to call him chaotic.”)

– Chaotisch: chaotic [adjective/adverb].

Naakt

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naked, nude, bare
[adjective/adverb] 

‘Naakt’ is mostly used to say that you are not wearing any clothes, i.e. ‘naked’. Figuratively it can also mean ‘bare’ or ‘plain’. When only part of the body is exposed, we use the adjective ‘bloot’. And when you are ‘helemaal bloot’, you are back to being naked 🙂

Examples:
– “Slaap jij naakt? Jij hebt het toch altijd te warm ‘s nachts?” – “Dat klopt, maar ik slaap niet naakt, want dan ga ik juist zweten, vraag me niet waarom!” 
(“Do you sleep naked? Aren’t you always too warm during the night?” – “That’s right, but I don’t sleep naked, because exactly then I start to sweat, don’t ask me why!”)

– “Mijn overbuurvrouw loopt soms naakt door het huis… Maar goed, er valt letterlijk niets te zien, dus van mij mag ze!” 
(“Sometimes my opposite neighbour walks around the house naked… Anyways, there is literally nothing to see, so she can do as she pleases!”)

– “Ik heb een terugkerende droom waarin ik naar school ga en dan opeens naakt in de klas zit… Wat denk jij dat dat betekent?” 
(“I have a recurring dream in which I go to school and then suddenly I’m naked in the classroom… What do you think that means?”)

– “Wanneer vind jij dat een schilderij met naakte mensen de grenzen van het betamelijke overschrijdt?”  – “Ik weet het niet, ik ben bijvoorbeeld geen fan van Egon Schiele, maar volgens mij kan dat nog wel.”
(“When do you think a painting with nude people exceeds moral boundaries?” – “I don’t know, for example, I’m not a fan of Egon Schiele, but I think that’s within boundaries.” Lit.: “exceeds the boundaries of what is decent…” – “…, but I think that is still ok”.)

– “Ik weet nog goed dat ik jou voor het eerst naakt zag…”
(“I remember well seeing you naked for the first time…”)

Expressions:
– “In je nakie”: colloquial form of ‘being naked’. A similar expression is: “in je blootje”.
– “De naakte waarheid”: the plain naked truth.

Example:
– “Wat kan ik zeggen, het is de naakte waarheid; niet meer en niet minder.”
(“What can I say, it’s the naked truth; nothing more, nothing less.”)

Related words:
– Naakt: nude (painting/model) [noun] [het naakt, de naakten].
– Naaktstrand: nudist/nude beach [noun] [het strand, de stranden].
– Bloot: naked, nude, bare, uncovered [adjective].

Example:
– “Verschrikkelijk vind ik het, mannelijke toeristen die met blote borst een kerk binnengaan!”
(“I think it’s terrible, male tourists who enter a church bare chested!”)

– Aangekleed: dressed, wearing clothes [adjective] [past participle of ‘aankleden’].

Example:
– “Kan ik binnenkomen, ben je aangekleed?”
(“Can I come in, are you dressed?”)