Category Archives: Dutch word of the day

Verklikken

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to betray, to give away, to tattle Iconspeaker_3
[verb]
[ver-klik-te, ver-klikt]

“Verklikken” or “klikken” is to give away information about a person to someone else. The informer is called a “verklikker”. The verb is often used when it concerns petty tale-telling by children. More serious betrayal is called “verraad”, the person who betrays is a “verrader” (“traitor”), and the verb is “verraden” (“to betray”). A synonymous verb which is slightly more informal than “verraden” is “verlinken”. Another verb which also means to reveal something is “verklappen”. Unlike “verklikken”, “verraden”, and “verlinken”, this verb doesn’t necessarily have a negative connotation.

Examples:
– “Het meisje verklikte tegen haar moeder dat haar broertje de koektrommel had leeg gegeten.” 
(“The girl told her mother that her brother emptied the cookie box.”)

– “Haar beste vriendin gaat vreemd met haar man; ze voelt zich verraden.”
(“Her best friend cheats on her with her husband; she feels betrayed.”)

– “In de Tweede Wereldoorlog werden Joodse families soms verraden door hun eigen buren.”
(“During the Second World War, Jewish families were sometimes betrayed by their own neighbours.”)

– “De crimineel verlinkte zijn handlangers in ruil voor strafvermindering.”
(“The criminal gave away his accomplices in exchange for a reduction of his sentence.”)

– “Je mag niemand verklappen wat we gaan doen, het is een verrassing.”
(“You cannot tell anyone what we will do, it’s a surprise.”)

– “In 2002 werd de kliklijn “Meld misdaad anoniem” landelijk ingevoerd.”

(“In 2002, the telephone number “Report crime anonymously” was introduced in the entire country.” Please note that “kliklijn” means “squeal-line”.)

Related words:
– “[Iemand] verlinken”: to betray [someone], to disclose against [verb] [verlinkte, verlinkt].
– “[Iets of iemand] verraden”: to betray [something or someone] [verb] [verried, verraden].
– “Verraad”: betrayal [noun] [het verraad, no plural].
– “Verrader”: betrayer [noun] [de verrader, de verraders].
– “Verklikker”: informer [noun] [de verklikker, de verklikkers].
– “[Iets] klikken”: to reveal [something], to tell [verb] [klikte, verklikt].
– “Kliklijn”: phonenumber that you can call if you want to reveal secret information [noun] [de kliklijn, de kliklijnen].

Tegenvallen

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to be disappointing Iconspeaker_3
[verb]
[te-gen-val-len, viel te-gen, is te-gen-ge-val-len]

“Tegenvallen” is used  when something does not answer to one’s positive expectations. The related noun is “tegenvaller”: disappointment/setback. When something is very disappointing, you can add a number of adverbs, see Extra.

You may often see a construction in the third person with an objective pronoun, for example: “Het valt me tegen dat…”, which translates to “It’s disappointing to me that…/It disappoints me that…”.

The opposite is the verb “meevallen” and the noun “meevaller”, which is used when something does not meet one’s negative expectations.

Examples:
– “Het miezert weer vandaag…dat valt tegen.” 
(“It drizzles again today…that’s disappointing.”)

– “De beurskoersen vallen weer behoorlijk tegen deze week.”
(“The stock exchange indexes are pretty disappointing again this week.”)

– “Het valt me vies tegen dat ik een bekeuring heb gekregen voor 3 km te hard rijden.”
(“It really disappoints me that I’ve had a speeding ticket for driving 3 km/h too fast.”)

Related words:
– Teleurstellen: to disappoint [verb] [stelde teleur, teleurgesteld].
– Teleurstelling: disappointment [noun] [de teleurstelling, de teleurstellingen].

Extra:
When something is very disappointing, you can add a number of adverbs. We’ve given the literal translation:
– erg tegenvallen: to be very disappointing.
– echt tegenvallen: to be really disappointing.
– zwaar tegenvallen: to be heavily disappointing.
– bijzonder tegenvallen: to be especially disappointing.
– vies tegenvallen: to be dirty disappointing.
– behoorlijk tegenvallen: to be quite disappointing.

Makkie

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piece of cake Iconspeaker_3
[noun]
[een mak-kie, <no plural>]

"Makkie" means "piece of cake" and originates from the adjective "gemakkelijk" or "makkelijk" which means "easy". A synonym of "makkie" is "eitje".

Examples:
– "Mijn oma is verslaafd aan sudoku’s, zelfs de moeilijkste puzzel is een makkie voor haar." 
("My grandmother’s hooked on sudoku’s, even the most difficult puzzle is a piece of cake for her.")

– "Je hebt die presentatie al twee keer eerder gedaan, het wordt een makkie voor je!" 
("You’ve already given that presentation twice before, it will be a piece of cake for you!")

– "Mijn rijexamen was echt een makkie omdat ik veel had geoefend in de auto van mijn vriend." 
("My driving exam was a real piece of cake because I practised a lot in the car of my boyfriend.")

– "Zit niet zo te stressen, het wordt een makkie om dat vliegtuig te halen, we hebben tijd zat." 
("Don’t stress, it will be a piece of cake to catch that plane, we have plenty of time.")Edwin_3

– "Het schot op het doel van Ronaldo was een makkie voor keeper Edwin van der Sar." 
("De shot on goal by Ronaldo was a piece of cake for goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar.")

Expressions:
– "Eitje": piece of cake.
– "Fluitje van een cent": piece of cake.
– "Inkoppertje": piece of cake.
– "Een koud kunstje": a piece of cake [expression].

Related words:
– (Ge)makkelijk: easy [adjective/adverb].

Olifant

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elephant Iconspeaker_3
[noun]Olifant
[de o-li-fant, de o-li-fan-ten]

Elephants do not belong to the domestic fauna of the Netherlands 🙂 You can only find them in the Dutch Zoos…

Examples:
– "Olifant Annabel is afgelopen zondag overleden nadat zij in een gracht gevallen was." 
("Elephant Annabel passed away last Sunday after falling into a ditch.")

– "Weet jij het verschil tussen een Afrikaanse en een Indiase olifant?" 
("Do you know the difference between an African and an Indian elephant?")

– "Een olifant heeft een lange slurf, slagtanden en grote oren." 
("An elephant has a long trunk, tusks and big ears.")

– "Ik ben zo high als een papegaai…ik zie allemaal roze olifantjes…" 
("I’m as high as a bird…I see pink little elephants everywhere…" Lit.: "I’m as high as a parrot…")

– "En toen kwam er een olifant met een lange snuit en die blies het verhaaltje uit…" 
("Then came an elephant with a long snout who blew out the story…" Line to finish a children’s bed time story with.)

Expressions:
– "Van een mug een olifant maken": to make a mountain (out) of a molehill, to exaggerate. Lit.: "to make an elephant out of a mosquito".

Related words:
– Slurf: trunk [noun] [de slurf, de slurven].
– Slagtand: tusk [noun] [de slagtand, de slagtanden].
– Mug: mosquito [noun] [de mug, de muggen].

Ouder

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You will encounter "ouder" in the meaning of "parent" (see 1.) or as the comparative degree of "oud" (see 2.)

1. parent Iconspeaker_3
Ouderschap
[noun]
[de ou-der, de ou-ders]

Examples:
– "Haar moeder is een alleenstaande ouder." 
("Her mother is a single parent.")

– "Beide ouders dienen bij het gesprek aanwezig te zijn." 
("Both parents are required to be present during the consult.")

– "Zij is een kind van gescheiden ouders." 
("She is a child of divorced parents.")

– "De ouders van je ouders worden ‘grootouders’ genoemd." 
("The parents of your parents are called ‘grand parents’.")

Expressions:
– "Aanstaande ouders": expectant parents.

Example:
– "De aanstaande ouders begonnen al aardig zenuwachtig te worden."
("The expectant parents were starting to get pretty nervous." Note the use of "aardig": it can mean both "nice/friendly" or "quite/pretty".)

Related words:
– Kind: child [noun] [het kind, de kinderen].
– Ouderschap: parenthood [noun] [het ouderschap, <no plural>].

Example:
– "Ik neem al mijn ouderschapsverlof op"
("I’m taking all my parental leave." Note that maternity leave is something different: "zwangerschapsverlof".)

2. older Iconspeaker_3
[comparative degree of "oud"]
[ou-der]

"Ouder" is also the comparative degree of the adjective "oud": old. A related noun derived from "ouder" is "oudere", but you will in fact only encounter it in its plural form "ouderen": elderly people.

Examples:
– "Ik ben ouder dan mijn zusje, maar ik ben niet de oudste." 
("I’m older than my (baby) sister, but I am not the oldest.")

– "Ik had mijn nicht al een tijd niet meer gezien; zij ziet er nu echt een stuk ouder uit!" 
("I hadn’t seen my cousin for quite some time; she really looks a lot older now!" Note that there a different words in Dutch for male or female cousins: "neef" and "nicht". A common mistake Dutch people make is to talk about their nephew or niece instead; this is because these are also called "neef" and "nicht" in Dutch. And while I am on the topic, note that "nicht" is also slang for a homosexual.)

Related words:
– Ouderdom: old age [noun] [de ouderdom, <no plural>].
– Ouderen: elderly people [noun, plural] [de ouderen].

Example:
– "Georganiseerde busreizen zijn populair bij ouderen."
("Organized bus tours are popular with elderly people / senior citizens.")