word
[noun]
[het woord, de woor-den]

A “woord” is a word. It doesn’t get easier than that 🙂

Estimations on the total number of words in the Dutch language vary a lot: from one million words (not counting declinations and conjugations) up to 60 million (including declinations and conjugations). Some even say that the number of all possible Dutch words is virtually infinite, since new compositions or derivations can be endlessly created from “original” words…

Examples:
– “Deze zin heeft vijf woorden.” 
(“This sentence has five words.”)

– “Dat zijn harde woorden.” 
(“Those are harsh words.”)

– “De tortelduifjes hadden alleen maar lieve woordjes voor elkaar.” 
(“The lovebirds only had sweet little words for each other.”)

– “Vrouwe, ik geef u mijn woord. Ik zal niet falen.” 
(“My Lady, I give you my word. I shall not fail.”)

– “Wat een onzin! Zoveel woorden die nergens op slaan.” 
(“What nonsense! So many words that make no sense.”)

Expressions:
– “Geen woord meer!”: not another word!
– “Zijn woord breken”: to break one’s word.
– “Het woord doen/voeren”: to do the talking/to act as spokesman.
– “Het woord is aan jou/u”: the floor is yours.
– “Woorden hebben met iemand”: to have words with someone.
– “Het hoogste woord hebben”: to talk loudest/to dominate the conversation    .
– “Zijn woord houden”: to keep one’s word.
– “Zijn woord breken”: to break one’s word.

Related words:
– Zin: sentence [noun] [de zin, de zinnen].
– Letter: letter [noun] [the letter, the letters].

Example:
– “Het woord ‘bouwvakkersdecolleté’ heeft 20 letters.”
(“The word ‘bouwvakkersdecolleté’ has 20 letters.”)

– Woordenboek: dictionary [noun] [het woordenboek, de woordenboeken].
– Spellen: to spell [verb] [spellen, spelde, gespeld].

Extra:
Like in many other countries, Lingo is the popular “word-guessing” game show that runs on Dutch TV since 1989 (but stopped in 2014). It has run so long that they had to go from 5-letter words to 6-letter words…

absolutely, sure, certain
[adverb/adjective]

"Zeker" can mean many things: it can be used as an affirmative reply to a question ("absolutely!") but also in both meanings of "certain" (see Examples) and when referring to people as "confident". Its antonym is "onzeker" and is mostly used in the translation "insecure".

In reply to a question, sometimes "ja" is added: "jazeker", which makes the affirmation even stronger.

Examples:
– "Gaan we nog naar het theater vanavond?" -" (Ja)zeker, ik heb me er de hele week op verheugd!" 
(-"Are we still going to the theatre tonight?" -"(Yes) absolutely, I’ve been looking forward to it all week!")

– "Heb je een leuke Bevrijdingsdag gehad? -"Jazeker! Ik ben naar een van de festivals gegaan." 
(-"Did you have a nice Liberation Day?" -"Absolutely yes! I went to one of the festivals." )

– "Ik weet zeker dat zij dat een leuk cadeau zou vinden." 
("I know for sure that she would like that present.")

– "Het is zeker dat Jacob Zuma de nieuwe president van Zuid-Afrika wordt." 
("It’s certain that Jacob Zuma will be the new president of South-Africa.")

– "Ik ben er zeker van dat het gezellig wordt als hij er bij is." 
("I’m sure that it will be great fun if he’ll be there.")

– "Hij heeft zo’n drukke baan dat hij zeker weer geen tijd heeft om af te spreken." 
("He has such a busy job that he probably won’t have time to meet up [he never does].")

– "Zij komt erg zelfverzekerd over, terwijl hij erg onzeker lijkt." 
("She comes across very self-confident, whereas he seems quite insecure.")

– "Ik ben op zoek naar een zekere meneer Janssen." 
("I’m looking for a certain Mr. Janssen.")

– "In zekere zin heb je gelijk als je vindt dat Van Basten de juiste beslissing heeft genomen om Ajax te verlaten, maar aan de andere kant is het jammer." 
("In a way you’re right if you think that Van Basten made the right choice to leave Ajax, but on the other hand it’s a pity.")

Expressions:
– "Zeker weten": to know for sure.
– "Vast en zeker": definitely, certainly.
– "Zeker van zijn zaak zijn": to be absolutely sure of one’s ground.

Example:
– "Je brengt hem niet zomaar op andere gedachten, hij is zeker van zijn zaak."
("You won’t change his mind easily, he is absolutely sure of his ground.")

– "Het zekere voor het onzekere nemen": to be on the safe side.
– "Zijn leven niet zeker zijn": not be sure of one’s life.

Related words:
– Onzeker: insecure [adjective/adverb].
– Verzekeren: assure, insure, secure [verb] [verzekerde, verzekerd].
– Zelfverzekerd: self-confident [adjective/adverb].

Extra:
Instead of "vast en zeker", the Flemish use the expression "zeker en vast"…

Liberation Day
[noun]
[de be-vrij-dings-dag, de be-vrij-dings-da-gen]

Wondering why the Dutch national flag has been put out everywhere today? It’s Liberation Day: the day that the Netherlands were freed from German occupation: May 5th, 1945. It was the end of World War II in the Netherlands.On May 5th, there are festivities everywhere, and there are a number of so called "bevrijdingsfestivals", which are usually free open air concerts where Dutch pop/rock artists perform in front of large audiences.

Liberation Day is preceded by "Dodenherdenking" (Remembrance of the Dead), every year on May 4th. Not only the fallen soldiers and victims of the Second World War are remembered, but the Dutch lives lost in every war and peace mission the Netherlands were involved in. During "Dodenherdenking", the flags are flown at half-mast.

Examples:
– "Vandaag is het Bevrijdingsdag! Heb je de vlag al uitgehangen?" 
("Today is Liberation Day! Have you put out the flag already?")

– "Vanwege Bevrijdingsdag, zijn er vandaag overal bevrijdingsfestivals." 
("Because of Liberation Day, there are liberation festivals everywhere today.")

Related words:
– Vrij: free [adjective].
– Bevrijden: to free, to liberate [verb] [bevrijdde, bevrijd].
– Bevrijding: liberation [noun] [de bevrijding, de bevrijdingen].
– Dag: day [noun] [de dag, de dagen].

Extra:
There’s always a bit confusion whether "Bevrijdingsdag" is an official holiday or not. Well…it is an official holiday, but not everyone has a day off. The Dutch government has decided that employers and employees should come to an arrangement themselves, which effectively means that people working for the government, public organizaions etc. get a day off, and people working for commercial organization usually don’t get a day off…