1. cap, hat [noun] [de pet, de petten]

The word "pet" is typically used for caps or cap-like hats. In Dutch we seem to have a word for all different kinds of hats, which makes it a bit difficult to translate at times.

The "army officer-like" hat that is worn by the Dutch male police is called a "politiepet". This word might look a bit weird if you don’t know that the base word is "pet". Female police wear a different hat which is rounder.

Many common expressions exist with "pet", see ‘Expressions’ for a few that you should know of.

Examples:
– "De politiepet is een belangrijk onderdeel van het politie-uniform."
("The police hat is an important part of the police uniform." The hyphen between "politie" and "uniform" is put there in order to avoid confusion in pronouncing the word, as "eu" is a common vowel in Dutch. However, here one can argue that the combination of the words is so common that the hyphen is not necessary.")

– "Politievrouwen dragen geen pet maar een hoedje."
("Female police do not wear a cap, but a hat (instead)." Literally: "Policewomen… ")

– "Honkbalpetjes zijn populair bij de jeugd."
("Baseball caps are popular amongst youngsters." Literally: "…popular with the youth.")

Expressions:
– "Huilen met de pet op.": literally "to cry with a cap on". This expression is used to indicate that an experience or performance was really bad.

Example:
"Hoe heeft het Nederlands elftal gespeeld?" – "Man, het was huilen met de pet op!"
("How did the Dutch team play?" – "Man, it was really bad!" The word "elftal" indicates a group of eleven people. Het "Nederlands elftal" is always used for the Dutch football/soccer team. If it would be hockey, then we would add the word hockey 🙂 .)

– "Jan-met-de-pet.": this is used to informally refer to the "ordinary (working class) civilian", literally: "Jan with the cap".

– "Petje af!": literally "cap off!", indicated the gesture one makes to pay respect by taking off the hat or cap. Consequently this expression is used to express admiration for an achievement.

– "Dat gaat me boven mijn/de pet.": literally "that goes above my/the cap", this expression is used to say that something is beyond your comprehension or understanding.

– "Rara politiepet!": this is a really weird expression of which we do not know its origin. "Rara" is informally used to express something is mysterious, see the example. How "politiepet" came in we don’t know, but together it means something like "how is this possible??".

Example:
"Rara, hoe kan dat?"
("How is this possible??" Literally: "… how can this?")

2. bad, lousy (quality) [adjective, adverb]

The use of "pet" as an adjective or adverb in the meaning of bad or lousy (with respect to quality) is less common, but definitely in use. Some people regard it a bit archaic, but it is one of Sander’s favourite words 🙂
Recently during the Dutch "verkiezingen" ("elections") the leader of the party D66 (Lousewies van der Laan – currently no longer active in politics) described the outcome of the elections for D66 as "pet". This was then mocked by the media because the usage of "pet" was deemed archaic.

Examples:
– "Dit is echt pet!"
("This is really bad/lousy!")

– "De kwaliteit van dit gereedschap is pet!"
("The quality of these tools is really bad!" The word "gereedschap" is used for tools like hammers, screwdrivers, drills etc.)

police [noun] [de politie, <no plural>]

The Dutch police is divided in 25 regional police forces and one national police force (the KLPD). More information on the organizational structure and the several ranks can be found at Wikipedia.

Examples:
– "Er is een ongeluk gebeurd! Bel de politie!"
("There has been an accident! Call the police!" The word "ongeluk" appeared earlier in 129. File.)

– "De politie heeft een 38-jarige man gearresteerd op verdenking van moord."
("The police have arrested a 38 year old man on suspicion of murder.")

Note that "politie" is singular in Dutch ("heeft" is the singular conjugation of the verb "hebben"), opposed to plural in English ("have", not "has").

– "De politie is je beste kameraad."
("The police is your best pal." A really old Dutch song about the police being one’s best friend. How times have changed…)

– "Laten we de weg even vragen aan die politieagent."
("Let’s ask that police officer for some directions." Literally: "Let’s ask that police officer for the road.")

Note that the word "even" is not really translated. Literally, it would translate to "briefly" or "shortly". In Dutch it is used frequently though to indicate that a certain activity will not take long. In spoken language, "even" is often corrupted to "effe".

Example:
– <de ene zakkenroller tegen de andere>: "Kijk jij effe of er politie in de buurt is…"
(<one pickpocket to the other>: "You go see if there’s police around…")

Related words:
– "Arresteren": to arrest.
– "Politieagent": police officer.
– "Zakkenroller": pickpocket.

Extra:
In times of polical campaigning, the following slogan can often be heard: "Meer blauw op straat!", which literally translates to "More blue on the streets!" Since the Dutch police wear blue uniforms, this slogan obviously stands for the intention to have more police officers patrolling in the streets.

basket [noun] [het mandje, de mandjes]

– "In deze winkel is het verplicht om een mandje te gebruiken."
("In this store it’s mandatory to use a shopping basket.")

– "Ik gebruik liever een mandje dan een karretje."
("I’d rather use a basket than a cart.")

– "Toen Frank ziek thuis lag, kreeg hij van zijn collega’s een fruitmandje opgestuurd."
("When Frank was ill at home, his colleagues sent him a basket of fruit." Literally: "… was lying ill at home, he was sent a basket of fruit…")

cash register, cash desk, checkout [noun] [de kassa, de kassa’s]

Examples:
– “U kunt betalen bij de kassa.”
(“You can pay at the cash desk.”)

– “Er staat een enorme rij bij de kassa!”
(“There’s a huge queue/line at the checkout!”)

– “In kleine winkeltjes wordt soms nog een ouderwetse mechanische kassa gebruikt.”
(“In small (little) shops sometimes an old-fashioned mechanical cash register is still used.”)

Related words:
– “Kassakorting”: an extra discount (“korting”) that you will receive once you pay at the “kassa”.
– “Afrekenen”: to pay (for goods or a service).
– “Betalen”: to pay (in general).
– “Kassameisje”: girl at the cash register/checkout. See also ‘Extra’.
– “Kassajuffrouw”: in case it is more of a woman than a girl 🙂

Expressions:
– “Kassa erbij!”: “add a check-out!”. This you might hear when the supermarket personnel notices that people are queueing up too much. The “Albert Heijn” supermarket has displays that say “3 in de rij, kassa erbij!”, which they of course don’t do.

– “Kassa!”
1. <in case something is (too) expensive> “What a rip off!”
2. <in case someone is lucky> “Bingo!” / “Jackpot!”

Extra:
In The Netherlands, there’s the common prejudice that girls working at
the checkout of a supermarket are not too bright. This prejudice is
parodied by “De Vliegende Panters“, a Dutch group of cabaret performers; the song is about the promiscuous behaviour of one of the “kassameisjes”.

supermarket [noun] [de supermarkt, de supermarkten]

The concept of a “supermarket” became popular in the Netherlands in the 60s. The introduction of the supermarket was a bit of a revolution as it differed very much from the traditional “kruidenier” (follow the link for a picture); small local shops named after the (often) male owner (the word “kruid” translates to “herb”).

Some people still prefer the smaller specialty shops, that often have products of better quality. Of course you pay more 🙂

In the Netherlands quite a few chains of supermarkets exist ranging in price and presentation (some would argue that service is absent in all of them, but you can get free coffee at Albert Heijn 🙂 ). Well known are Albert Heijn, C1000 and Jumbo, but there are many more (the smaller ones sometimes changing names in different regions of the country). The sizes of Dutch supermarkets are still modest compared to other countries, but Albert Heijn is making an effort with their XL concept.

Although some expats still complain about the limited opening hours of Dutch supermarkets, there used to be a time when they all closed at 6 p.m. (only in the last decade this has changed bit by bit). We would definitely have starved if that would still be the case now 😉

Examples:
– “Tot hoe laat is de supermarkt open?”
(“Until what time is the supermarket open?”)

– “Mag ik u wat vragen? Weet u een supermarkt in de buurt?”
(“Can I ask you something? Do you know of a supermarkt nearby?” Literally: “… in this neighbourhood?”)

– “Sorry, maar ze hadden geen tandpasta meer in de supermarkt.”
(“I’m sorry, but they ran out of toothpaste in the supermarket.” Literally: “they had no more toothpaste”.)

– “Voor verse groenten ga ik liever naar de groenteboer dan naar de supermarkt.”
(“For fresh vegetables I’d rather go to the greengrocery than to the supermarket.”)

Related words:
– “Markt”: market. In Dutch towns the word “Markt” is often part of names of squares or streets, such as “Grote Markt” (“big market”) or “Vismarkt” (“fish market”).
– “Boodschappen doen”: to do/buy groceries. The word “boodschap” translates to “message”.

Extra:
This video was first linked in DWOTD 3. Zakje, but is of course also applicable here. Check out this British comedian joking about Albert Heijn and the way Dutch people buy their fruit and vegetables…