Arresteren

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to arrest [verb] [arresteerde, gearresteerd]

Although Samuel L. Jackson joked in "Pulp Fiction" that police offers in Amsterdam are not allowed to search you, they are definitely allowed to arrest you so be aware of that! 🙂 Actually, it is a bit more sophisticated than Samuel stated and there is a chance that you are searched by police without being a suspect, as a preventive measure. Traditionally the Dutch police have been quite tolerant but it seems this has changed recently with more police on the streets and the law actually being enforced. You will most likely notice this when riding your bike: no bike lights and biking through red lights is no longer tolerated!
In general the law has become a bit stricter in recent years, one of the biggest changes being the fact that one has to be able to show ID at all times. This led to protest by left-wing parties who argue that this will not lead to a decrease in crime and is in fact a violation of privacy.

Examples:
– "Agent, arresteer deze man!"
("Officer, arrest this man!")

– "Na een felle strijd heeft de politie 10 krakers gearresteerd."
("After a heavy battle, the police have arrested 10 squatters.")

– "Na een lange zoektocht heeft de politie de daders kunnen arresteren."
("After a long search, the police have been able to arrest the offenders.")

Related words:
– "Inrekenen": less common synonym for "arresteren".
– "Agent/e": police officer.
– "Arrestatie": arrest [noun].
– "Burgerarrest": citizen’s arrest. "Burger" translates to "citizen" (and to "burger" when you are at McDonald’s 🙂 ).
– "Straf": punishment, sentence.

Bekeuring

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fine, ticket [noun] [de bekeuring, de bekeuringen]

"Bekeuring" is used in the context of an authorized civil servant fining a person for violating the law, usually the police writing a ticket for breaking a traffic rule. Besides "bekeuring", the word "boete" is also often used to indicate a fine. A "boete" is a penalty in general, the difference with "bekeuring" in the above context is minimal though. In the context of football/soccer, the Dutch use the same word for "penalty", sometimes pronounced incorrectly though (by lower educated coaches 🙂 )

There are a number of synonyms for "bekeuring" and "boete". We have listed most of them under ‘Related words’.
 
Examples:
– "Ik heb gisteren een bekeuring van 20 Euro gekregen voor rijden zonder verlichting."
("Yesterday I was fined 20 Euros for riding (my bike) without lights." Literally: "…I (have) received a fine…" The 20 Euros is actually the official figure.)

– "Ik heb dit jaar al drie bekeuringen gehad voor te hard rijden."
("This year I have already been fined three times for speeding." Literally: "…for driving too fast.")

– "Mensen die geen identiteitsbewijs bij zich hebben, kunnen tegenwoordig een boete krijgen."
("Nowadays, people who don’t carry an ID card can be fined." Literally: "…can receive…")
 
Related words:
– "Bon": ticket.
– "Parkeerboete": parking ticket.
– "Prent": <informal> ticket. Literally: print/picture (old fashioned).
– "Proces-verbaal": charge / a written report by a police officer of the law violation in question.

Extra:
If one is stopped by a police officer for violating a traffic rule, the police officer always asks for the reason of your "bad" behaviour. Then he says that you are not obliged to answer. I (Sander) have never been able to determine why they want this information, since they just shrug or patronize you when you do tell them. One of our friends is infamous for giving rude, out-of-context, reasons. Consequently he is fined again, this time for insulting a police officer.
You never pay your fine on the spot, but you will get a receipt (some kind of "proof" of your crime). Then after a few weeks a letter will arrive with the fine which you will then have to pay by bank transfer.
Read more about Dutch traffic fines in the ‘Extra’ of DWOTD 127. Stoplicht.

Politie

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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.

Aanbieding

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special offer, sale [noun] [de aanbieding, de aanbiedingen]

"Aanbieding" is derived from the verb "aanbieden", which means "to offer". It is commonly used for items that are on special offer in supermarkets or department stores, see ‘Examples’.
Another common word you will encounter is "reclame" for "special offer". This word normally translates to "advertisement" or "commercial" depending on context.

Examples:
– "Aanbieding! Twee kilo bananen, van 2,30 voor 1,98!"
("Special offer! Two kilos of bananas, was 2.30, now 1.98!" Literally: "… from 2.30, for 1.98" Notice that in Dutch one uses commas to separate the cents from the whole euros.)

– "Deze week zijn de aardbeien in de aanbieding bij Albert Heijn."
("This week strawberries are on special offer / on sale at Albert Heijn.")

– "Ik denk dat ik een flatscreen TV ga kopen; ik heb een goede aanbieding gezien bij de Mediamarkt."
("I think that I’m going to buy a flat screen TV; I have seen a good offer at Mediamarkt.")

Related words:
– "Aanbieden": to offer.
– "In de reclame": on special offer, on sale (only for food products).
– "Uitverkoop": sale (mainly clothing shops).
– "OP=OP": this is used to encourage people to come down quickly and buy whatever is on sale, since it is expected that the item will be sold out soon (now, would there be some causal connection there?…) The word "op" in this case means "finished", as in "nothing left".

Mandje

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basket [noun] [het mandje, de mandjes]

"Mandje" is the diminutive of "mand". In the context of this week’s theme "the supermarket", "mandje" can also be referred to as a "winkelmandje": shopping basket. Its larger relative, the (shopping) trolley or push cart, is called a "winkelwagen(tje)" or "winkelkarretje", which literally translates to "little shopwagon".
 
Examples:
– "De mandjes zijn op."
("There are no shopping baskets anymore." Literally: "The shopping baskets are used up.")

– "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…")

Related words:
– "Supermarkt": supermarket.
– "Winkel": shop, store.
– "Winkelwagen(tje)" / "winkelkarretje": (shopping) trolley / push cart.
– "Fruitmand": basked of fruit. Typical gift for the unfortunate ones that are ill at home or in the hospital.
– "Hondenmand": dog basket.

Extra:
A few years ago some supermarkets tried to engage in dating services by offering two kinds of "winkelmandjes" in different colour. Judging from the colour of your "winkelmandje", say it was yellow, other "potential singles" knew that you were "available" or "willing to" :-).  A "blue" basket would then indicate the opposite. Unfortunately we have no data on the outcome of this experiment, nor if it is still going on somewhere.