immediate, at once [adjective / adverb] [‘on-mi-du-luk’]

"Onmiddellijk" was rammed into our heads at primary school: "Onmiddellijk? Dubbele ‘d’, dubbele ‘l’ !!!": "double ‘d’, double ‘l’ !!!"

Examples:
– "Kom onmiddellijk hier!"
("Come here at once!")

– "Toen ik het verschrikkelijke nieuws hoorde, ben ik onmiddellijk omgedraaid."
("When I heard the awful news, I turned around immediately.")

– "Deze regel gaat onmiddelijk in."
("This rule applies immediately." Lit.: "This rule goes in immediately.")

– "Het roken van een joint heeft niet altijd een onmiddellijk effect."
("Smoking a joint does not always have an immediate effect.")

– "Wilt u een miljoen euro winnen? Bel onmiddellijk met het volgende nummer!"
("Do you want to win a million euros? Call the following number at once!")

Expressions:
– "God straft onmiddellijk.": <ironic:> God punishes at once (when someone has done something wrong/stupid, and is negatively affected by his own actions).

Related words:
– "Dadelijk": immediate, direct.
– "Direct": direct.
– "Gelijk": right.
– "Meteen": immediately, straight away.
– "Ogenblikkelijk": instantly.
– "Geleidelijk": gradual.

incredible, unbelievable [adjective / adverb] [‘on-gu-loo-fu-luk’]

Examples:
– "Ongelofelijk!"
("Incredible / unbelievable!")

– "Niet te geloven!"
("Incredible / unbelievable!" Literally: "Not to believe!")

– "Hij is een ongelofelijke klootzak."
("He is an incredible bastard.")

– "Het is ongelofelijk, maar waar!"
("It’s incredible, but true!")

– "Sommige mensen vinden De Da Vinci Code een ongelofelijk goed boek."
("Some people think that The Da Vinci Code is an incredibly good book.")

– "Het heeft Frank ongelofelijk veel moeite gekost om zijn excuses aan te bieden."
("It has taken an incredible amount of effort for Frank to offer his apologies.")

Related words:
– "Geloven": to believe.
– "Ongeloof": disbelief.
– "Geloof": belief, faith.
– "Onvoorstelbaar": unimaginable.

slice of bread, sandwich [noun] [de boterham, de boterhammen; ‘boo-tur-ham’]

A "boterham" is either a slice of bread, as part of a loaf of bread, or it is one folded slice of bread with some kind of filling. A "dubbele boterham" involves two slices and comes down to a sandwich. There is some ambiguity here: it is sometimes unclear if a "boterham" is composed of one or two slices of bread. So most Dutch people clarify by saying "enkele boterham" (single), "dubbele boterham" (double), or "sneetje", the latter if they don’t want the slice to be folded 🙂

Normal home made Dutch "boterhammen" are very modest compared to sandwiches that you’d buy somewhere (which in turn are very modest compared to for example U.S. sandwiches 🙂 ). Maybe it’s the Calvanistic influence!

Examples:
– "Wil je een boterham of een sneetje met kaas?"
("Would you like a sandwich or a slice with cheese?")

– "Lunch jij op het werk of neem je boterhammen mee?"
("Do you have lunch at work or do you bring sandwiches?")

– "Ik doe meestal kaas op mijn boterham."
("I usually put cheese on my sandwich.")

– "De boterhamzakjes zijn op, wil jij nieuwe kopen?"
("We are out of sandwich bags, can you buy new ones?" Lit.: "The sandwich bags are finished…")

Expressions:
– "Zijn boterham verdienen met…": to earn a living with… Lit. "to earn a slice of bread with…"
– "Een dikke boterham verdienen.": to make good money. Lit. "to earn a fat/thick sandwich".
– "Een afgelikte boterham.": lit. a "licked off" sandwich, this is a person who has been "loved" by many others if you know what we mean. A bit like the "town bike".

Related words:
– "Belegde boterham": a sandwich, a slice of bread with filling.
– "(Brood)beleg": a filling, slices of ham/cheese, whatever you put on your sandwich.
– "Broodje": a bun, a roll.
– "Belegd broodje": bun/roll with a filling.
– "Smeren": to butter, to spread. See also 194. Peren for a different use of "smeren".

Example:
– "Ik zag twee beren broodjes smeren, o dat was een wonder…"
("I saw two bears preparing sandwiches, oh that was a miracle." First line of well-known Dutch children’s song.)