Category Archives: Vocabulary Intermediate

Bankroet

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1. bankrupt Iconspeaker_3
[adjective]Bankroet

[bank-roet]

"Bankroet" sounds a bit like "bankrupt", don’t you think? You may also often see its synonym "failliet".

Examples:
– "Door de scheiding is Frank helemaal bankroet gegaan." 
("Because of the divorce, Frank went totally bankrupt.")

– "Nu DSB bankroet gegaan is, voelen veel mensen zich in de steek gelaten." 
("Now DSB went bankrupt, a lot of people feel like they’ve been let down.")

Expressions:
– "Met lege handen": empty-handed.

Related words:
– Failliet: bankrupt [adjective].
– Blut: broke [adjective].

Example:
– "Ik ben blut…" – "Maak dat de kat wijs, je hebt nog je spaarrekening met duizend euro!"
("I’m broke…" – "I don’t believe a thing of it, you still have your savings account with one thousand euros!")

– Platzak: broke [adjective]. Lit.: flat pocket.
– Bank: bank, bench, couch, sofa [noun] [de bank, de banken].
– Roet: soot [noun] [het roet, <no plural>].

2. bankruptcy Iconspeaker_3
[noun]
[het bank-roet, de bank-roe-ten]

"Bankroet" is also the noun: bankruptcy. The related noun of "failliet" changes though: "faillissement".

Examples:
– "Het morele bankroet van onze samenleving is aanstaande…" 
("The moral bankruptcy of our society is imminent…")

– "Ooit was hij een feestbeest, nu is hij alleen maar bezig met zijn bankroet te voorkomen." 
("He used to be a party animal once, now he’s only trying to prevent his bankruptcy." Lit.: "…he’s busy with trying to…")

Related words:
– Faillissement: bankruptcy [noun] [het faillissement, de faillissementen].

Maak dat de kat wijs!

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I don’t believe a thing of it! Iconspeaker_3
[Dutch phrase of the week]Katwijs_2

Let’s stay in the category Animals a little bit longer with the phrase of this week. "Maak dat de kat wijs!" literally means "make the cat believe it", and really means: "I don’t believe a thing of it!" The verb is "iemand iets wijsmaken" ("make somebody believe something"). It’s not the only expression in which cats play a role, see "De kat uit de boom kijken" and "Als de kat van huis is, dansen de muizen op tafel".

Examples:
– "Ben jij op de maan geweest, in je dromen zeker! Maak dat de kat wijs!" 
("Have you been to the moon, sure, in your dreams! I don’t believe a thing of it!")

– "Mijn buurman had dit jaar bijna de Nobelprijs voor de Vrede gewonnen." – "Geloof je het zelf? Maak dat de kat wijs!" 
("My neighbour almost won the Nobel Peace Price this year." -"You must be kidding! I don’t believe a thing of it!" Lit.: "Do you believe it yourself? …")

– "Heb je maar twee uur slaap per nacht nodig? Maak dat de kat wijs!" 
("You only need two hours of sleep per night? I don’t believe a thing of it!")

Related words:
– Wijs: wise [adjective/adverb].
– Wijsmaken: to make believe [verb] [maakte wijs, heb wijsgemaakt].
– Kat: cat [noun] [de kat, de katten].
– Katten: to snarl [verb] [katte, heb gekat].
– Kater: 1. tom cat 2. hangover [noun] [de kater, de katers].

Op rolletjes

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like clockwork Iconspeaker_3
[Dutch phrase of the week]
[op rol-le-tjes]Rollerskating

To express a general state of prosperity, the Dutch use the expression "op rolletjes". You can use it when things are going smoothly: like clockwork.

"Rolletje" is the diminutive of "rol": roll. "Op" is a very common preposition, usually translated with "on". "Op rolletjes" therefore literally translates to something like "on little rolls" or "on little wheels" (like under a desk/chair/table/rollerskates etc.)

Examples:
– "Geen files onderweg, het ging op rolletjes!" 
("No traffic jams on the way, it went like clockwork!")

– "Ik heb nog stapels met werk…" – "Wat klets je nou? Alles gaat op rolletjes!"
("I still have loads of work…" – "You’re talking nonsense, everything goes like clockwork!" )

– "Hoe gaat het met solliciteren?" – "Nou, nog niet echt op rolletjes…"
("How’s the job hunting going?" – "Well, not very well yet…")

Expressions:
– "Voor de wind gaan": to do well, to prosper.

Example:
– "Het gaat Frank voor de wind, zelfs in deze crisistijden."
("Frank is doing well, even in these times of crisis.")

Related words:
– Rol: role [noun] [de rol, de rollen].

Example:
– "Er zijn geen toiletrollen meer…" – "Dat zit er dik in, net nu ik serieus aan de diarree ben…"
("We’ve run out of (roles of) toilet paper…" – "Of course, just when I’m having a serious case of diarrhea…")

– Voorspoedig: prosperous [adjective].

Onderweg

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on the way, en route, in transit, on the road  Iconspeaker_3
[adverb]
[on-der-weg]File_onderweg

Every morning a lot of people are "onderweg" to work. The Dutch "wegen" are packed with "files" (traffic jams).

"Onderweg" literally translates to "underway": in progress.

Examples:
– "Okee baas, ik ben onderweg." 
("Okay boss, I’m on my way.")

– "Deze regering is een aanfluiting, we zijn in dit land onderweg naar totale chaos…" 
("This government is a farce, we’re on our way to total chaos in this country…")

– "Er is altijd wel iemand onderweg naar iemand anders." 
("There’s always somebody on his way to somebody else.")

– "We zijn te laat, het veer is al onderweg naar Texel." 
("We’re too late, the ferry is already on its way to Texel.")

Related words:
– Weg: way, road [noun] [de weg, de wegen].

Extra:
Check out this clip: a song by the Dutch artist Abel. The song is called Onderweg. You may notice that Abel’s pronunciation is characterized by a ‘soft’ g, as most people have in the province of Noord-Brabant and Limburg 🙂

For the soapies: there are Dutch (competitive) soap operas on Dutch television: "Onderweg Naar Morgen – ONM" (broadcast on the public channel), and "Goede Tijden Slechte Tijden – GTST" (broadcast on a commercial channel). Literal translations are respectively "On the way to tomorrow" and "Good times bad times"…

Aanfluiting

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mockery, farce, travesty Iconspeaker_3 Aanfluiting
[noun]
[de aan-flui-ting, de aan-flui-tin-gen]

"Aanfluiting" is often used in the context of (professional) performance, quality, reputation or pride. The word might be related to "fluiten" ("to whistle") which can be used in the form "uitfluiten" (and although a different sound, translated as "to hiss (at) / catcall").

Examples:
– "De prestatie van de atleet was een aanfluiting en hij is terecht door het publiek uitgefloten." 
("The athlete’s performance was farcical and he deserved to be hissed at by the audience." Lit.: "…he was justly hissed at…")

– "Het rapport van de commissie is een regelrechte aanfluiting. Hebben zij hier 3 jaar aan gewerkt?!" 
("The committee’s report is an absolute mockery. Did they work on this for three years?!")

– "Deze spits maakt zijn team tot een aanfluiting; hij bakt er werkelijk niets van!" 
("This forward makes a mockery of his team; he makes a complete mess of it!" See also Expressions)

– "De rechtspraak in dat land is een aanfluiting; je wordt zonder vorm van proces vastgezet!" 
("The jurisdiction in that country is a complete farce; one is imprisoned without trial!")

Expressions:
– "Er niets van bakken": to make a complete mess of it, to be really bad at something. Lit. "to bake nothing of it".

Related words:
– Uitfluiten: to hiss at, to catcall [verb] [floot uit, uitgefloten].
– Farce: farce [noun] [de farce, de farces].
– Fluiten: to whistle [verb] [floot, gefloten].
– Fluitje: glass of beer, lit.: little whistle [noun] [het fluitje, de fluitjes].