The Dutch translation of “birthday” and “anniversary” is mostly the same: “verjaardag”. Sometimes “jubileum” is used as a translation for “anniversary”, see the examples in 1. and 2.

The Dutch have developed the strange habit of also congratulating family members and friends of the birthday boy/girl. We don’t know why 🙂 So do not be surprised if this happens to you. However, it seems this is changing a bit as an increasing number of people realize it is in fact strange and stop doing it.

The day on which you were born is “geboortedag”, but usually you will see “geboortedatum” (“date of birth”) when filling out forms etc.

1. birthday [noun] [de verjaardag, de verjaardagen] [‘ver-jaar-dag’]

Examples:
– “Vandaag viert koningin Beatrix haar zeventigste verjaardag.”
(“Today, Queen Beatrix celebrates her seventieth birthday.”)

– “Koninginnedag is niet de echte verjaardag van Beatrix…want zij is jarig op 31 januari…”
(“Queen’s Day is not Beatrix’ real birthday…because her birthday is on January 31st…” Beatrix honors her mother Juliana who had her birthday on April 30. Obviously the weather is also a lot better in April 🙂 )

Expression:
– “Abraham/Sara zien”: literally “to see Abraham/Sarah” this is said
when one reaches 50 – Abraham for the male and Sarah for the female.
You will see this on birthday cards or on decorated office doors.

Example:
– “Hij heeft Abraham gezien.”
(“He turned 50.”)

Related words:
– “Jarig“: No literal translation. “Jarig” is the adjective that indicates the state of one having one’s birthday.
– “Geboortedag”: day of birth, sometimes also “anniversary”.
– “Vieren“: to celebrate.
– “Feest“: party.
– “Viering”: celebration.

2. anniversary [noun] [de verjaardag, de verjaardagen] [‘ver-jaar-dag’]

Examples:
– “In 2003 vierde Cuba de vijftigste verjaardag van de Revolutie.”
(“In 2003 Cuba celebrated the Revolution’s fiftieth anniversary.”)

– “Vorig jaar heeft Lizy haar 25-jarige werkjubileum gevierd.”
(“Last year Lizy celebrated her 25th work anniversary.”)

Related word:
– “Jubileum”: jubilee, anniversary.

1. to celebrate [verb] [vierde, gevierd] [‘vie-run’]

Examples:
– “Sander viert vandaag zijn 32e verjaardag. Hiep hiep hoera!!!
(“Sander celebrates his 32nd birthday today. Hip, hip, hurray!!!”)

– “Wat?! Is Sander vandaag jarig??? Dat moet gevierd worden!”
(“What?! Is it Sander’s birthday today??? That calls for a celebration!” Lit.: “…That must be celebrated!”)

– “Iedere zondag om tien uur en om half twaalf wordt in de Sint Servaas Basiliek de heilige mis gevierd.”
(“Holy Mass is celebrated in the Basilica of Saint Servatius every Sunday at ten o’clock and at half past eleven.”)

Related words:
– “Feest“: party.
– “Jarig“: No literal translation. “Jarig” is the adjective that indicates the state of one having one’s birthday.

2. four [numeral] [‘vie-run’]

Examples:
– “Hoe laat hebben jullie afgesproken? – Rond vieren.”
(“What time have you agreed to meet? – Around four.”)

– “Met hoeveel personen zijn jullie? – Met z’n vieren.”
(“How many people are you? – Four.”)

3. fours [<plural> noun] [de vier, de vieren] [‘vie-run’]

Example:
– “Dat is juist, mijn telefoonnummer eindigt op twee vieren.”
(“That is correct, my phone number ends in two fours.”)

4. to pay out, to veer out, to ease, to slacken [verb] [vierde, gevierd] [‘vie-run’]

Example:
– “Mannen, er is een storm op komst, we moeten het zeil vieren!”
(“Men, there’s a storm coming, we must ease the sail!”)

1. relaxed, easy, cool [adjective] [‘ont-span-nun’]

Instead of “ontspannen” the Dutch often use “relaxed” and “cool” too. Mind that the English words – when used in Dutch – are declined according to the Dutch rules, see the last example.

Examples:
– “Marc, je ziet er ontspannen uit, hoe was je vakantie?”
(“Marc, you look relaxed, how was your holiday?”)

– “Na een bezoek aan de sauna voel ik me altijd heerlijk ontspannen.”
(“After a visit to the sauna I always feel wonderfully relaxed.”)

– “Ik ben ontspannen zoals op een zondagochtend…”
(“I’m easy like Sunday mornin’…”)

– “Ken je Pascal? Hij is een relaxte gast!”
(“Do you know Pascal? He’s a cool dude!”‘)

Related words:
– “Slap”: slack, soft, weak.
– “Rustig”: calm, steady.
– “Strak”: tight.
– “Stress”: stress.
– “Gestrest”: stressed (out).

2. to relax, to unwind, to chill [verb] [ontspande, ontspannen] [‘ont-span-nun’]

As a verb, “ontspannen” can be used in the transitive form as well as the reflexive form (“zich ontspannen”). See the Examples for both cases.

Examples:
– “Schat, ik ga even lekker ontspannen met een biertje op de bank.”
(“Honey, I’m gonna chill for a moment with a beer on the couch.” Lit.: “…chill nicely for a moment…”)

– “Kunt u proberen uw buikspieren te ontspannen?”
(“Can you try to relax your abdominal muscles?”)

– “Frank kan zich niet ontspannen in het weekend. Hij is een totale workaholic.”
(“Frank can’t relax during weekends. He is a total workaholic.”)

Related words:
– “Relaxen”: (verb) tot relax.
– “Rusten”: (verb) to rest.
– “Stressen”: (verb) to stress out, to work under stress(es).

finger [noun] [de vinger, de vingers] [‘vi-ngur’]

Mind that the ‘ng’ is pronounced as in ‘ring’. There are many expressions with “vinger”, we have listed only a few below.

Examples:
– “Hoeveel vingers steek ik op?”
(“How many fingers am I holding up?”)

– “Ik heb mijn vinger bezeerd tijdens het klussen.”
(“I hurt my finger while working on the house.” Note that we have a special verb for do-it-yourself activities in and around the house: “klussen”.)

– “In Nederland hoort bier met twee vingers schuim geserveerd te worden.”
(“In the Netherlands beer is supposed to be served with two fingers of head.”)

– “Het bijdehante meisje stak bij elke vraag van de leraar haar vinger in de lucht.”
(“The bright girl raised her hand at every question from the teacher.” Literally: “… stuck her finger in the air.”)

Expressions:
– “Een vinger aan de pols houden”: have/keep a finger on the pulse.
– “Om je vingers bij af te likken”: finger-licking good.
– “Iets door de vingers zien”: to deliberately overlook or turn a blind eye to something.
– “Groene vingers hebben”: to have a green thumb/fingers.
– “Hij hoeft maar met zijn vingers te knippen of..”: he only has to snap his fingers and…
– “Iets met de natte vinger doen”: to do something off the top of one’s head.
– “Zij kan hem om haar vinger winden”: she can wind him around her little finger.
– “Iemand op de vingers kijken”: to breathe down someone’s neck (as in closely watching what somebody is doing.)
– “Iemand op de vingers tikken”: to rap someone’s knuckles.
– “Iets op je vingers kunnen natellen”: you could have known that / that was to be expected.
– “Met twee vingers in je neus”: literally “with two fingers in your nose” this informal expression says that something is very easy for you to do.

Example:
– “Man, dat rapport schrijf ik met twee vingers in mijn neus.”
(“Man/dude/mate, writing that report is an easy thing for me.”)

Related words:
– “Duim”: thumb.
– “Wijsvinger”: index finger.
– “Middelvinger”: middle finger.
– “Ringvinger”: ring finger.
– “Pink”: little finger.
– “Hand”: hand.
– “Vingerafdruk”: fingerprint.
– “Vingervlug”: nimble/light-fingered.
– “Lange vingers”: sponge-fingers (that you need to make ‘tiramisu’).
– “Vingeren”: to finger.

eraser/rubber [noun] [de gum, de gummen] [‘gum‘]

This word might lead to some confusion: the English ‘gum’ is ‘gom’ in Dutch, and ‘chewing gum’ is ‘kauwgom’. But when your ‘gums’ are swollen, we talk about ‘tandvlees’ (‘tooth flesh’). The Dutch will also say ‘stuf’ instead of ‘gum’, but when you want ‘stuff’ as in ‘drugs’, you just ask for what you want 🙂 Ok. And to our American-English readers: the equivalent for ‘rubber’ in Dutch would be ‘kapotje’, but people usually just talk about a ‘condoom’.
Now that we are clear on the subject, let’s move on to the Examples. We’ll use ‘eraser’ in the translations in order not to be funny.

Examples:
– “Mag ik even je gum lenen?”
(“Can I borrow your eraser?” Here ‘even’ means ‘for a short while’ which is more or less implicit, but it also makes the request sound friendlier.)

– “Wat ligt daar op de grond? Toch geen kauwgom hè!” – “Nee mamma, het is een gummetje.”
(“What’s that there on the floor? It isn’t chewing gum is it now?” – “No mom, it’s an eraser.” Note the common use of the diminutive.)

– “Sh*t hee, ik heb geen gum bij me. Wat nu?”
(“Cr*p/b*llocks, I forgot an eraser. Now what?” The use of the word ‘sh*t’ is very common in informal speech. Some parents encourage their children to say ‘ships’ instead, which would be the Dutch pronunciation of ‘chips’ (as in ‘potato chips’ or ‘crisps’).)

Related words:
– “Stuf”: eraser/rubber.
– “Uitgummen”: to erase, to rub out.