Category Archives: Dutch word of the day

Aardig

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1. nice, friendly, pleasant, kind Iconspeaker_3
Glimlach
[adjective/adverb]
[aar-dig]

Examples:
– "Heb jij een aardige leidinggevende?" – "Niet echt, maar hij/zij is er toch nooit!" 
("Do you have a friendly supervisor/boss/manager?" – "Not really, but he/she is never there anyway!")

– "Ik vind haar niet zo aardig; ze maakt de hele tijd van die botte opmerkingen!" 
("I don’t like her/ I don’t think she is that nice; all the time she makes such blunt/curt remarks!")

– "Wat aardig van je dat je me wil helpen!" 
("How nice of you to offer help! / that you want to help me!")

– "Hij glimlacht heel aardig, maar toch vertrouw ik hem niet!"
("He has a charming smile, but still I do not trust him!" Lit. "He smiles friendly"…)

Related words:
– Vriendelijk: friendly, nice [adjective/adverb].

2. fair(ly), pretty, nice(ly) Iconspeaker_3
[adjective/adverb]
[aar-dig]

"Aardig" can also imply that something is substantial, of considerable size, volume, quality etc.

Examples:
– "Volgens mij heeft mijn neef een aardig inkomen, want hij heeft al weer een nieuwe auto gekocht!" 
("I believe my cousin must have a decent income, because he bought yet another car!")

– "Ik heb mijn aandelen verkocht en ondanks de crisis heb ik toch een aardig bedrag verdiend." 
("I sold my shares and despite the crisis, I still earned quite a good sum.")

– "Hij spreekt een aardig woordje over de grens." 
("He speaks quite a few foreign languages.")

– "Het heeft afgelopen nacht aardig hard geregend." 
("Last night it rained quite a bit.")

– "Wat vind je van mijn schilderij?" – "Eh… niet onaardig!" 
("What do you think of my painting?" – "Ehm… not bad!")

– "Mijn tante doet tegenwoordig aan Tae Bo en ze is al aardig wat kilo’s kwijt!" 
("My aunt practises Tae Bo these days and she has lost quite some weight already!" Literally "…lost quite a few kilos". Note the use of "aardig wat …": "quite a few / quite some …")

Knutselen

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to do some home improvement activities, D.I.Y., to tinker away at, to fiddle with  Iconspeaker_3
[verb]
[knut-se-len, knut-sel-de, ge-knut-seld]

There’s not really an exact equivalent in English for "knutselen". It varies from a handyman doing some home improvement, Do It Yourself chores, or children fiddling with paper, scissor and crayons…Knutsel

Examples:
– "Nina heeft een mooie collage geknutseld op school." 
("Nina has made a beautiful collage at school.")

– "Waar is Frank?" – "Hij is aan het knutselen in het tuinhuisje."
("Where is Frank?" – "He’s doing some home improvement in the garden house.")

– "Theo heeft het hele weekend besteed aan het knutselen aan zijn fiets." 
("Theo has spent the entire weekend on fiddling with his bike.")

Related words:
– Knippen: to cut, to use a scissor [verb] [knipte, geknipt].
– Plakken: to paste, to stick [verb] [plakte, geplakt].
– Kleuren: to colour [verb] [kleurde, gekleurd].
– Prutser: screw up <person> [noun] [de prutser, de prutsers].

Example:
– "Frank is een totale prutser."
("Frank is a total screw up.")

– Prutsen: to blunder, to be messing things up [verb] [prutste, geprutst].
– Verprutsen: to mess up [verb] [verprutste, verprutst].

Verhullen

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to conceal (from), to mask, to cloak/veil Iconspeaker_3
[verb]
[ver-hul-len, ver-hul-de, ver-huld]

Forensische_tent2_2
"Verhullen" can be used both literally and figuratively.

Examples:
– "Het kasteel was volledig verhuld door de mist." 
("The castle was completely concealed by the mist.")

– "Met niets verhullende foto’s choqueerde de krant haar lezers." 
("With revealing pictures, the newspaper shocked its readers.")

– "Het valt me op dat Frank zich vaak in verhullende termen uitdrukt." 
("I have noticed that Frank often expresses himself in masked terms.")

– "De werkzaamheden van de forensische experts werden verhuld voor het publiek door een afscheiding." 
("The
work done by the forensic experts was concealed from the audienc by a
fence." Contrary to what is practised in the popular tv series, Dutch
CSI experts usually put up a tent that covers the crime scene.)

– "Zolang ze maar niet de waarheid verhullen, vind ik het best!" 
("As long as they do not conceal the truth it’s fine with me!")

Related words:
– Verbergen: to hide, conceal, cover up [verb] [verborg, verborgen].
– Verhulling: concealment [noun] [de verhulling, de verhullingen].

Example:
– "Hoe noem je zo’n tent die ze gebruiken bij forensisch onderzoek?" – "Ik weet het niet, een verhullingstent??"
("What do you call one of those tents that they use when doing forensic research?" – "I don’t know, a concealment tent??")

– Verstoppen: to hide [verb] [verstopte, verstopt].

Veilig

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safe, secure Iconspeaker_3
[adverb/adjective]
[vei-lig]

"Veilig" denotes a situation that is free from danger. It’s the opposite of "gevaarlijk" ("dangerous"), or the more informal word with the same meaning "link". The corresponding noun is "veiligheid" ("safety"). As in English, you especially come across the word when people refer to traffic, travel advice to certain countries, or sex.

Examples:
– "Hij voelde zich niet veilig op dat verlaten treinstation."  Veilig
("He didn’t feel safe at that abandoned train station.")

– "De soldaten zijn weer veilig (en wel) thuisgekomen." 
("The soldiers have returned home safe (and sound).")

– "Het is niet heel veilig om door Yemen te reizen, omdat er geregeld mensen worden ontvoerd." 
("It’s not so safe to travel through Yemen, since people are kidnapped there frequently.")

– "Veiligheid boven alles! Maak alstublieft uw veiligheidsriem vast." 
("Safety first! Please fasten your seat belt.")

– "Hij heeft zijn hele werkend leven geld opzij gezet om zijn pensioen veilig te stellen." 
("He has put aside money his entire working life to secure his pension.")

– "Veilig Verkeer Nederland is een organisatie die zich richt op veiligheid op de weg." 
("Safe Traffic Netherlands is an organisation that aims for road safety.")

– "Je kunt vervelende SOA’s oplopen door onveilige seks." 
("You can get nasty STD’s through unsafe sex." Note that SOA abbreviates ‘Seksueel Overdraagbare Aandoeningen’, corresponding to ‘Sexually Transmittable Diseases’.)

Related words:
– Onveilig: unsafe, dangerous [adverb/adjective].
– Gevaarlijk: dangerous [adverb/adjective].
– Veiligheid: safety [noun] [de veiligheid, <no plural>].
– Veilig stellen: to secure [verb] [stelde veilig, heeft veilig gesteld].

Flessenlikker

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bottle scraper Iconspeaker_3
[noun]
[de fles-sen-lik-ker, de fles-sen-lik-kers]Flessenlikker

"Flessenlikker" is composed of "fles" and "likker, which respectively translate to "bottle" and "licker", hence "bottle licker". The "flessenlikker" is actually a kitchen tool, which has become a bit obsolete
nowadays. A "flessenlikker" is/was used to scrape a bottle of yogurt or pudding completely empty. A nice example of Dutch economy 🙂

Instead of bottles, pudding and yogurt comes in packs now. Most youngsters will have never heard of a "flessenlikker"…

Examples:
– "Waar is de flessenlikker? Deze fles yoghurt is bijna leeg." 
("Where is the bottle scraper? This bottle of yogurt is almost empty.")

– "Heb jij de flessenlikker gezien?" – "Een flessenlikker, wat ouderwets!" 
("Have you seen the bottle scraper?" – "A bottle scraper, that’s old-fashioned!")

– "De flessenlikker…een geniale uitvinding! Jammer dat er geen flessen meer gebruikt worden voor yoghurt of pudding…" 
("The bottle scraper…a brilliant invention! Too bad that bottles are no longer used for yogurt or pudding…")

Related words:
– Fles: bottle [noun] [de fles, de flessen].
– Likken: to lick [verb] [likte, gelikt].

Example:
– "De hond likte de hand van zijn baasje."
("The dog licked his master´s hand.")

– Schrapen: to scrape [verb] [schraapte, geschraapt].

Expressions:
– "De keel schrapen": to clear one´s throat. Lit.: to scrape one’s throat.

Extra:
For more information on the bottle scraper, see Wikipedia.