Category Archives: Vocabulary Basic

Kater

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tomcat, hangover, disillusionment [noun] [de kater, de katers] [‘kaa-tur’]

Examples:
1. “Twee vechtende katers hebben me de hele nacht wakker gehouden!”
(“Two fighting tomcats have kept me up all night!”)

2. “De dag na het Interagency feest hadden Sander en Marc een stevige kater.”
(“The day after the Interagency party, Sander and Marc had a substantial hangover.”)

3. “Na een slechte jaarlijkse beoordeling had Frank een behoorlijke kater.”
(“After a bad annual appraisal, Frank was seriously disillusioned.” Literally: “…Frank had/suffered a serious disillusionment.”)

Related words:
1. “Hoofdpijn”: headache.
2. “Misselijk”: nauseous, sick to the stomach.
3. “Overgeven”: to vomit (to be sick).

Example:
– “Ik denk dat ik moet overgeven.”
(“I think I’m going to be sick / throw up / vomit.”)

Morgen

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Grammar:
1. <morgen> [noun] [de morgen, de morgens].
2. <morgen> [adverb].

Translates to:
Ad 1. "morning", the period from the start of the day till noon.
Ad 2. "tomorrow".

Examples:
1. "Frank is altijd nors in de morgen."
("Franks is always grumpy in the morning.")

2. "Morgen zal alles anders zijn."
("Tomorrow, everything will be different.")

3. "Ik zie je morgen!"
("I’ll see you tomorrow!")

4. "Tot morgen!"
("See you tomorrow!", literally: "Till tomorrow!")

Related Words:
1. "Vanmorgen" or "vanochtend": this morning.

Example:
"Vanmorgen stond er in totaal 565 kilometer file."
("This morning, traffic jams were 565 kilometer in total.")

2. "Overmorgen": the day after tomorrow.

3. "Ochtend": morning, dawn.

4. " ‘s Morgens " or " ‘s ochtends ": in the morning (from the historic second possessive case (genetive) "des morgens" or "des ochtends").

Example:
"Frank is ‘s ochtends nooit op z’n best."
(Frank is never at his best in the morning.")

5. "Morgenstond": the early morning (hours), dawn.

Expression:
"De morgenstond heeft goud in de mond":
"The early bird catches the worms", literally: dawn has gold in its mouth.

6. "Ochtendhumeur": bad morning mood.

Kijken

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to watch/see/look [verb] [keek, gekeken; ‘kij-kun’]

The use of ‘kijken’ is best illustrated with a few examples (see below). Also, many so-called ‘samengestelde werkwoorden’ ("composed verbs") exist with ‘kijken’ as the main verb, see ‘Related words’.

Examples:
1. "De jeugd van tegenwoordig kijkt te veel televisie."
("Today’s youth watch too much television.")

2. "We zullen kijken wat we er aan kunnen doen!"
("We will see what we can do about it!")

3. "Kijk wie er daar aan komt lopen!"
("Look who’s coming there!" The construction ‘komen aanlopen’ in this context means ‘to arrive walking’ or ‘to walk in the direction of the speaker’.)

4. "Kijk uit!"
("Watch out!")

5. "Kijk me aan als ik tegen je praat!"
("Look at me when I’m talking to you!")

6. "Die man kijkt alsof hij water ziet branden!"
("That guy looks as if he sees water burn!")

7. "Kan ik u helpen?" – "Nee, ik kijk even rond."
(<in a shop:>"Can I help you?" – "No, I’m just browsing.")

Expressions:
1. "Kijken, kijken, niet kopen!".
Literally "looking, looking, not buying", often used to say to Dutch people when abroad, mocking the Dutch conservative spending pattern 🙂

2. "Kijk maar!"
Something like "just see", indicating you leave it up to the other to decide on what to do or how to progress.

3. "Even kijken…"
"Let me see…" Often the word ‘even’ becomes ‘effe’, which is very informal.

4. "De kat uit de boom kijken."
"Wait to see which way the wind blows / which way the cat jumps", literally: "To look the cat out of the tree". This expression appeared earlier in 66. Boom.

Related words:
1. "Bekijken": to look with the objective to inspect or to study.

Examples:
a. "Heb jij het menu al bekeken?"
("Have you looked at the menu yet?")

b. "Ik moet het nog even bekijken."
("I have to look into it yet.")

c. "Bekijk het maar!"
Figurative use meaning "to hell with it", "sod it" or equivalent. This expression is however very acceptable to use.

2. "Rondkijken": to browse (in a shop), to look around.
3. "Uitkijken": to watch out, to look out for, to be on the look-out.
4. "Aankijken": to look at (somebody), to wait and see (before deciding).

Example:
"Ik kijk het nog even aan…"
("I’ll wait and see…")

5. "Verrekijker": binoculars (literally: far lookers).

Zin

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liking/desire, meaning, sense, sentence [noun] [de zin, de zinnen]

"Zin" is truly a homonym: it has several different meanings and can be used in many contexts (the list above is not even complete!).

Examples:
1. "Ik heb zin in ijs als toetje."
("I feel like ice cream for dessert.")

2. "Nu vraag ik je: wat is de zin van het leven?"
("I ask you now: what is the meaning of life?")

3. "Pas een half uur na zijn woedeuitbarsting kwam Frank weer bij zinnen."
("Only half an hour after his raging outburst, Frank came to his senses again.")

4. "Door gebrek aan inspiratie kreeg de columnist slechts enkele zinnen op papier gezet."
("Due to lack of inspiration, the columnist was able to put only a few sentences on paper.")

5. "Ik heb geen zin!"
("I don’t feel like it!")

The following use of "zin" is quite common:
"Zin hebben in/om": to feel like. Depending on the sentence you either use "in" or "om", the latter always involving a verb.

Examples:
1. "Ik heb zin in koffie."
("I feel like coffee.")

2. "Ik heb zin om koffie te drinken."
("I feel like drinking/having coffee.")

3. "Ik heb helemaal nergens zin in!"
("I don’t feel like doing anything at all!")

Related words:
1. "Onzin": nonsense.
2. "Zinnig": sensible.
3. "Onzinnig": senseless, absurd.

Duidelijk

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clear, well, distinct [adjective, adverb]

Examples:
1. "De omroeper op het treinstration articuleert duidelijk."
("The announcer at the train station articulates distinctly.")

2. "Frank heeft vanmorgen een duidelijke presentatie gehouden."
("This morning, Frank gave a clear presentation.")

3. "Deze leraar staat bekend om zijn duidelijke uitleg."
("This teacher is known for his clear explanation.")

4. "Dat lijkt me duidelijk!"
("Obviously so!" Literally: "That seems clear to me!")

5. "Ik ontvang u luid en duidelijk!"
("I read you loud and clear!")

Related words:
1. "Onduidelijk": unclear.
2. "Vaag": vague, blurry.
3. "Duidelijk worden": [verb] to become clear/evident.

Example:
– "Nu wordt het me duidelijk!"
("Now it becomes clear to me!")