Category Archives: DWOTD 1.0

Original DWOTD post 2006 – 2013

Niet te filmen!

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indescribable, unbelievable! Iconspeaker_3
[Dutch phrase of the week]

"Filmen" is the verb derived from the noun "film" and obviously means "to record on film". Unless it is really a film that you are shooting, you will more commonly use "een video opnemen" or "opnemen" ("to record" in general). Apparently this expression is used to say that something is that incredible, it can’t be recorded on film (whatever that means 🙂 ). You can use the expression both for positive and negative astonishment. Or just say: "ongelofelijk!" 🙂

Examples:
– "Moet je die man zien fietsen met die gekke hoed. Niet te filmen…" 
("Look at that man biking over there with that strange hat! Incredible…")

– "Hoe was het congres afgelopen zaterdag?"- "Het was niet te filmen zo slecht… echt, niets was geregeld!" 
("How was the convention last Saturday?" – "It was so bad… it’s indescribable… honestly, nothing had been arranged!")

Slingeraap
– "Ik ben dit weekend in Artis geweest."- "Was het leuk?" – "Zeker, vooral die slingerapen, niet te filmen joh hoe die hun staart gebruiken als extra arm!" 
("I went to the Artis Zoo this weekend." – "Did you have a good time?" –  "Absolutely, especially those spider monkeys, it is unbelievable how they use their tail as an additional arm!" The use of the word "joh" is a bit like "ey".)

Text-to-speech engines

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We get a lot of requests to provide audio files for the example
sentences. Currently we do not have the time to do this but a
text-to-speech engine might work for you.

Here is a text-to-speech engine that gives reasonable results. Select the Dutch language and copy a word or sentence into the text box. You might have to remove special characters.

http://demo.acapela-group.com/

If you know of any other good text-to-speech engines, please let us know!

Stapel

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1. pile Iconspeaker_3
[noun]
[de sta-pel, de sta-pels]Stapel_2

A "stapel" is a pile of books, rocks, papers, problems, etcetera. The related verb is "stapelen" or "opstapelen" ("to pile up"). A little pile is a "stapeltje".

Examples:
– "Ondanks de ‘clean-desk policy’ ligt het bureau van mijn collega altijd vol met stapels papier." 
("Despite the clean-desk policy, my colleague’s desk is always filled with piles of papers.")

– "Toen hij terugkwam van vakantie lag er een stapel post op hem te wachten." 
("When he returned from vacation, a pile of mail was waiting for him.")

– "In haar kast liggen alle broeken, rokjes, truien en bloezen netjes opgevouwen op stapeltjes." 
("In her closet all pants, skirts, sweaters and blouses are nicely folded and piled up.")

– "Omdat zij al haar geld verloor aan gokken, stapelden haar schulden zich op." 
("Since she lost all her money to gambling, her debts piled up.")

Expressions:
– "Op stapel staan": to be planned.

Related words:
– (Op)stapelen: to pile up [regular weak verb] [stapelde op, opgestapeld].
– Hoop: 1. hope [noun] [de hoop, <no plural>]; 2. heap [noun] [de hoop, de hopen].
– Ophopen: to pile up [regular weak verb] [hoopte op, opgehoopt].
– Berg: 1. mountain [noun]; 2. heap [noun] [de berg, de bergen].

2. madly in love
[adverb/adjective]

The second meaning of "stapel" is "madly in love". It is derived from "stapelverliefd" which means "madly in love". Another adjective that is often precede by "stapel" is "stapelgek" which either means "totally crazy" or "crazy in love" or both 😉 Listen to the hitsingle "Stapel op jou" by one of the best-known Dutch singers Marco Borsato.

Eren

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to honour Iconspeaker_3
[verb]
[e-ren, eer-de, ge-ëerd]

Examples:
Onderscheiding– "De militair werd geëerd voor zijn heldhaftig optreden." 
("The soldier was honoured for his heroic actions.")

– "Laten we de doden eren door het leven te vieren ." 
("Let’s honour the dead by celebrating life.")

– "De koning van Hispanje heb ik altijd geëerd." 
("The king of Spain I have always honoured." This line is taken from the Dutch anthem and yes, it is weird that we have always honoured the king of Spain 😉 Note that the modern translation of Spain is "Spanje".)

Expressions:
– "Ere wie ere toekomt": give credit where credit is
due.
– "Die/Wie het kleine niet eert, is het grote niet weert": this saying says something like "if you are not happy with something small, you do not deserve something big".

Related words:
– Eer: honour [noun] [de eer, <no plural>].
– Vereren: to worship [verb] [vereerde, vereerd].
– Eerbetoon: tribute, homage [noun] [het eerbetoon, <no plural>].
– Eerbied: esteem, respect [noun] [de eerbied, <no plural>].
– Eerwraak: honour killing, blood revenge [noun] [de wraak, <no plural>].
– Herdenken: to commemorate [verb] [herdacht, herdacht].
– Onderscheiding: distinction, award [noun] [de onderscheiding, de onderscheidingen].

Hoofdstuk

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chapter Iconspeaker_3
[noun]
[het hoofd-stuk, de hoofd-stuk-ken]Boek

If you’ve ever opened a Dutch book, you will have come across this word. "Hoofdstuk" consists of "hoofd" ("head") and "stuk" ("piece"). It can be used both in a literal and a figurative sense.

Examples:
– "Welke hoofdstukken moeten we voor de training morgen lezen?"
("Which chapters do we have to read for the training tomorrow?")

– " ‘De avonden’ van Gerard Reve is het saaiste boek dat ik ooit heb gelezen; ik heb echt mijn best gedaan, maar ben maar tot hoofdstuk twee gekomen."
(" ‘The evenings’ by Gerard Reve is the most boring book I’ve ever read; I really tried my best but I only made it to chapter two.")

– "Nu Michael Jackson is overleden, is er een hoofdstuk in de geschiedenis van de popmuziek gesloten."
("Now that Michael Jackson has passed away, a chapter in the history of pop music is closed.")

– "De hernieuwde onderhandelingen tussen de twee vijanden waren het begin van een nieuw hoofdstuk."
("The renewed negotiations between the two enemies were the beginning of a new chapter.")

Related words:
– Inhoudsopgave: table of contents [noun] [de inhoudsopgave, de inhoudsopgaven].
– Hoofd: head [noun] [het hoofd, de hoofden].
– Stuk: 1. piece [noun] [het stuk, de stukken] 2. broken [adjective/adverb] 3. document [noun] [het stuk, de stukken].
– Paragraaf: paragraph [noun] [de paragraaf, de paragrafen].