to move (house) [verb] [verhuisde, verhuisd] [‘ver-hui-zun’]

A
house in Dutch is a "huis". In this case the derived verb begins with "ver".
When a verb starts with "ver" it can indicate some kind of change. In
this case change of house 🙂

If you work for a Dutch company, in most cases your employer will
grant you 1 or 2 days of leave per 2-year period to help you facilitate
moving house.

In case you want to use "to move" just ‘to move’ something, say a
desk or whatever, then we usually say "verplaatsen" (again a change
there in location/place ("plaats").)

Examples:
– "Madelon is vorige week verhuisd van Den Haag naar Amsterdam."
("Last week Madelon moved from Den Haag to Amsterdam.")

– "Verhuizen is een van de meest stressvolle gebeurtenissen."
("Moving (house) is one of the most stressful events.")

– "Verhuizen jullie zelf, of laten jullie het doen?"
("Are you moving yourselves, or are you hiring somebody?" Lit. ".., or let you do it?")

– "Hé, nog bedankt voor het meehelpen verhuizen hè!" – "Tuurlijk makker, graag gedaan!"
("Hey,
thanks again for helping me move (, eh)!") – "Sure mate/dude, you’re
welcome!" Here, "tuurlijk" is the informal abbreviation of
"natuurlijk": of course, sure.)

Related words:
– "Verhuizing": move, removal [noun].
– "Verhuisbedrijf": mover, remover, moving company.
– "Verhuizer": mover, remover [the person].
– "Verhuislift": elevator used by movers.
– "Verhuisdoos": moving box, removal box.
– "Verhuisbericht": notice of moving (house).

Friday [noun] [de vrijdag, de vrijdagen] [‘vrij-dag’]  

Today is "Goede Vrijdag": Good Friday. It is a Christian holiday,
but it’s not a national holiday: companies do not have to be closed
today. Most are though, and a lot of people take the day off anyway, to
have a long Easter weekend 🙂

On this grey day, you may want to tune into Bach’s Matthäus Passion (St. Matthew Passion): it’s broadcast on Dutch national television at 12 o’clock on channel Nederland 2.

Names of days are not capitalized in Dutch (except when it’s the
name of a holiday, and when it’s the first word of the sentence of
course…)

Examples:
– "Vandaag is het vrijdag."
("Today it’s Friday.")

– "Op Goede Vrijdag wordt de kruisiging en dood van Christus herdacht."
("On Good Friday the crucifixion and death of Christ is commemorated.")

Related words: ‘days of the week’
– "Maandag": Monday.
– "Dinsdag": Tuesday.
– "Woensdag": Wednesday.
– "Donderdag": Thursday.
– "Zaterdag": Saturday.
– "Zondag": Sunday.

Extra:
Sometimes you may hear the phrase "vrijdag visdag":
Friday fish day. Traditionally, Friday is the Catholic day for fasting,
though not many Catholics will still fast every Friday 🙂 Since it was
not allowed to eat meat that day, fish was eaten instead. You may still
find many company restaurants having fish on the menu on Fridays.

1. customer, client, guest [noun] [de klant, de klanten] [‘klant‘]

"Klant" is used to indicate a person/company that purchases a good
or service (of any kind) from a supplier (of any kind). In Dutch,
there’s also the word "cliënt", which is commonly used for customers of
a law firm, or other more formal business relations. When referring to guests in a restaurant or bar, "klant" is
also used, though "gast" would be appropriate too.

Examples:
– "Frank, kun jij deze klant helpen?"
("Frank, can you help this customer?")

– "Vaste klanten krijgen een korting van 10%."
("Regular customers / Regulars receive a 10% discount.")

– "Beste klant, vandaag is er erwtensoep en tomatensoep."
("Dear guest, today we have pea soup and tomato soup.")

– "Omdat er te weinig klanten waren, heeft de winkel zijn deuren moeten sluiten."
("The shop had to close because there were not enough customers." Lit. "…too little customers…, …to close its doors.")

Expression:
– "De klant is koning": The customer is always right. Lit.: The customer is king.

Related words:
– "Winkel": shop, store.
– "Klantenservice": customer service, service department.
– "Klantvriendelijk": customer-friendly.
– "Cliënt": client.
– "Kijken, kijken, niet kopen": phrase sometimes used abroad to describe Dutch shoppers ("look, look, not buy").

2. customer, fellow, bloke [noun] [de klant, de klanten] [‘klant‘]

Like the English "customer", "klant" can be used too to refer to a male person. It is sometimes used in a negative context.

Examples:
– "Ken je die gast?" – "Nee, ik vind hem een vreemde klant."
("Do you know this guy?" – "No, I think he’s an odd customer.")

Related words:
– "Gast": guy, bloke dude.
– "Gozer": guy, bloke, dude.
– "Kerel": fellow, guy, man, chap.

to text, to text message, to send a text message [verb] [sms’te, ge-sms’t] [‘es-em-es-un’]

SMS is the acronym for Short Message Service. In Dutch we use the acronym as a noun for the text message itself, and then of course we’ve derived a verb by adding the ending -en. It is not used as such in English, and you might hear the unsuspecting Dutchman use it this way when speaking English.

The spelling of the verb “sms’en” and its conjugations is tricky and often done incorrectly. The rule is that when you derive a verb from an acronym, an apostrophe is required to separate the acronym from the ending -en.  Then there is debate whether or not a hyphen is necessary in the past participle.

Examples:
– “Ik zal je sms’en als ik op Den Haag Centraal ben aangekomen.”
(“I’ll text you when I’ve arrived at The Hague Central Station.”)

– “Frank zat continu met zijn nieuwe vlam te sms’en tijdens het werkoverleg.”
(“Frank was continuously sending text messages to his new flame/ladylove during the project meeting.”  A “werkoverleg” is actually some kind of project progress meeting. The verb “overleggen” translates to “to consult/confer”. Note that the typical
Dutch construction for continuous activities is used here: [subject]  + [conjugation
of verbs suchs as “lopen” / “zitten” / “staan” / “hangen”]  + [te] +
[infinitive].)

– “Wat heb je haar ge-sms’t?” – “Nou, dat ik verschrikkelijk verliefd op haar ben!”
(“What did you text her?” – “Well, that I’m madly in love with her!”)

– “En wat deed je toen?” – “Nou toen sms’te ik haar weer! En daarna heb ik nooit meer iets ontvangen!”
(“And what did you do next?” -“Well, then I sent her another text message! And after that, I never received anything back!”)

Related words:
– “Sms / sms’je”: text message.
– “Mobiel(tje)”: mobile (phone).
– “06”: colloquialism for a mobile phone number (all mobile phone numbers start with “06” in the Netherlands).

Example:
– “Heb je zijn 06 voor me?”
(“Do you have his cell phone number for me?”)

Extra:
There’s a very popular commercial on Dutch TV these days that is actually not about text messaging, but about sending emails with your mobile. The commercial starts with a guy trying to order 5 kilos of “inktvis” (squid). Because of the small keypad the users make mistakes and typos. Most famous one liner from this commercial is “goeiemoggel!”, which is supposed to be a typo of “goeiemorgen!” (good morning!). In Dutch commercials, humour is the most important ingredient and studies have shown that it’s the best way to make a message stick with the Dutch. As a result “goeiemoggel” can now be heard in many Dutch offices every morning… 🙂

hallstand, hatstand, hat rack, coathook(s) [noun] [de kapstok, de kapstokken] [‘kap-stok’]

The Dutch usually hang their coats (and their hats, umbrellas, bags, etc.) on a "kapstok". The "kapstok" is often located in the hallway ("gang") of the house.

Sometimes, "kapstok" is used in a figurative way (often in office language/jargon). In that case, it’s meaning is that of a "framework" or "steppingstone", see the Examples.

Examples:
– "Kerel, kom binnen! Daar is de kapstok! Wil je een biertje?"
("Come on in, big fellow! There’s a coathook over there. Do you want a beer?")

– "Er is geen plaats meer aan de kapstok, waar kan ik mijn jas ophangen?"
("There’s no space left on the hallstand anymore, where can I hang my coat?")

– "De inleiding van dit rapport is een kapstok om het projectplan te beschrijven."
("The introduction of this report is a steppingstone for describing the project plan." )

Related words:
– "Haak": hook.
– "Paraplubak": umbrella stand.