Dat belooft wat!

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Marc

that sounds promising! / this will be exciting!
[Dutch phrase of the week]

Best wishes to all of our readers!! May 2011 become a year of many Dutch Word of the Days that will help you understand Dutch and the Dutch even better than in 2010. And now…gaan met die banaan!

"Dat belooft wat" literally translates to "that promises something", in other words: "that sounds promising!"

The other way around: the literal translation of "that sounds promising" is "dat klinkt veelbelovend", which can be used synonymously to "dat belooft wat". Sometimes you may hear "dat belooft heel wat": that sounds very promising.

Examples:
– "We hebben in 2010 veel bereikt met de Dutch Word of the Day, maar 2011 wordt nog beter!" – "Dat belooft wat!"
("Way have achieved a lot with the Dutch Word of the Day in 2010, but 2011 will be even better!" – "That sounds promising!")

– "Frank was vanochtend erg chagrijnig." – "Dat belooft wat voor de vergadering vanmiddag…"
("Frank was very grouchy this morning." – "That sounds promising for the meeting this afternoon…")

– "Hoe zal Ed reageren op de afwijzing van Tina? Dat belooft heel wat…blijf kijken, terug na de reclame!"
("How will Ed react to Tina dismissing him? This will be very exciting….stay tuned, back after the commercial break!")

Related words:
– Beloven: to promise [verb] [beloven, beloofde, h. beloofd].

Example:
– "Iemand gouden bergen beloven."
("To promise someone the sun and the moon. Literally "to promise someone golden mountains".")

– Veelbelovend: promising [adjective].

Example:
– "Frank was ooit een veelbelovende advocaat, maar omdat hij in de rechtszaal meerdere keren gefaald heeft, is hij nu werkloos."
("Frank was once a promising lawyer, but because he messed up in court several times, he's currently unemployed.")

Het zit er weer op!

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Sander

it's over/gone again, we're done
[Dutch phrase of the week]
[Het zit er weer op]

You can use this phrase when you've completed an activity or when a period of time (such as: morning, hour, year) has ended. Either use "het" when it's clear from context or be more specific, see the examples. The use of 'weer' indicates that it's over 'again' (as in rather quickly or when it feels that way). You can leave it out if you want ("het zit er op!")

Examples:
– "Het jaar zit er al weer bijna op!"
("The year is almost over again! / the year has almost ended!")

– "Jongens, het zit er op, we kunnen gaan lunchen!"
("Guys, we're done, let's have lunch!" Lit. "we can have lunch / we are able to have lunch".)

– "En daarmee sluiten we af, de ochtendsessie zit er weer op, en dan nu het nieuws van 12 uur."
("And with that we conclude, the morning session is over again, next the 12 o'clock news.")

– "De week zit er weer op, heerlijk, eindelijk weekend!"
("The week has come to an end again, splendid/great, weekend finally!")

– "Het zit er weer op voor dit jaar, in 2011 zijn er weer nieuwe DWOTD's!"
("And we're done for the year, in 2011 there will be new DWOTDs again!")

Related words:
– Voorbij: over, gone, past, finished[adjective].

Example:
– "De vakantie is weer voorbij; balen!"
("The holidays are over again; bummer / that sucks!")

– Over: past, finished [adjective].

Example:
– "Het is over, klaar, voorbij! Wat snap je daar niet aan?"
("It's over, finished, done! What part do you not understand?")

Ramp

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Sander

disaster
[noun]
[de ramp, de ram-pen]

Today I spent 7 hours in my car due to snowfall, and yes, that was a disaster!

Examples:
– “Het vertrek van de topspeler was een ramp voor de voetbalclub.”
(“The departure of the top(-class) player was a disaster for the football/soccer club.”)

– “De uitbraak van cholera in Haïti is een humanitaire ramp.”
(“The outbreak of cholera in Haiti is a humanitarian disaster/crisis.”)

– “Wat een ramp! Er gaan geen treinen meer naar huis!”
(“What a disaster! All trains home have been cancelled!”)

– “Tegenwoordig heb je overal skateparken. Wij hadden vroeger niet eens een ramp. Dat was pas een ramp!”
(“Nowadays there are skateparks everywhere. When I was young we didn’t even have a (skateboard) ramp. Now that was a disaster!” Literally: “Nowadays one has skateparks everywhere. We did not even use to have…” Note that there is also a skateboard trick called “disaster” 😉 )

Related words:
– Natuurramp: natural disaster [noun] [de natuurramp, de natuurrampen].
– Catastrofe: catastrophy [noun] [de catastrofe, de catastrofes].
– Verwoesting: devastation [noun] [de verwoesting, de verwoestingen].
– Rampzalig: disastrous [adjective/adverb].

Example:
– “Ik vind ‘onfortuinlijk’ een understatement; ik zou deze ontwikkeling als ‘rampzalig’ willen betitelen.”
(“I believe that ‘unfortunate’ is an understatement; I would like to describe this development as ‘disastrous’. “Betitelen” is like giving something a ‘label/title’.”)

– Desastreus: disastrous [adjective/adverb]. This is the slighly posher version of ‘rampzalig’.
– Nood: emergency [noun] [de nood, de noden].

Hartverwarmend

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Sander

heartwarming
[adjective/adverb]
[hart-ver-war-mend]

Hart gevuld met emoticons The Dutch verb for “to heat” or “to warm” is “verwarmen”. A word you may know is “verwarming”: heating (in your house for example). The adjective ‘heartwarming’ can be created in Dutch by combining the noun “hart” and the adjective “verwarmend”, the latter is created from the verb by adding -d (whereas in English you would add -ing).

Examples:
– “De reactie van het publiek was hartverwarmend.”
(“The response of the audience was heartwarming.”)

– “Het hartverwarmende gebaar van de politicus deed zijn populariteit onmiddellijk stijgen.”
(“The heartwarming gesture of the politician made his popularity increase immediately.”)

– “Heb je nog een cadeau gekregen voor je veertigjarige dienstverband?” – “Nee, en ook de receptie was niet hartverwarmend te noemen, eerder kil…”
(“And, did you get a present for your forty years of service (in the company)?” – “No, and also the reception could not be called heartwarming, rather cold…” The word ‘dienstverband’ translates as ’employment’ and ‘veertigjarig’ as ‘having taken forty years’.)

– “Ik wil jullie allemaal bedanken voor deze hartverwarmende ontvangst!”
(“I would like to thank you all for this heartwarming welcome!” Note that ‘ontvangst’ is typically translated as ‘reception’.)

– “Het tv-programma ‘All you need is love‘ is een aaneenschakeling van hartverwarmende momenten.”
(“The TV show ‘All you need is love’ is a succession/chain of heartwarming moments.”)

– “Hartverwarmend gezongen jongen, ik ben bijzonder ontroerd!”
(“Heartwarmingly sung man, I am very moved!”)

Expressions:
Check out DWOTD Hart for an overview of expressions with “Hart”.

Related words:
– Hart: heart [noun] [het hart, de harten].
– Warm: warm [adjective/adverb].
– Verwarmen: to heat, to warm [verb] [verwarmde, verwarmd].
– Ontroerend: moving, poignant [adjective/adverb].

Bijleggen

Posted on December 14, 2010 by Sander

1. to settle, reconcile, make up
[verb]
[bij-leg-gen, leg-de bij, bij-ge-legd]

"Bijleggen" is what people do when settling a dispute, or when making up afterwards. Note that when using this verb, you need to add the article 'het' which implicitly refers to whatever dispute you are settling; check out the examples.

"Bijleggen" is less used when it regards more serious occasions of dispute; in that case you may encounter words such as "verzoening" (reconciliation), "zich verzoenen" (to reconcile), "conflictoplossing" (conflict resolution).

Another translation of "bijleggen" is given in 2. below.

Examples:
– "Het akkefietje was onverwachts op een ruzie uitgelopen, maar beide partijen hebben het gelukkig snel weer bijgelegd."
("The quarrel had turned into a fight unexpectedly, but luckily both parties made up again quickly.")

– "Wordt het niet eens tijd dat jullie het bijleggen, dit conflict duurt al veel te lang!"
("Isn't it about time that you (guys) settle things, this conflict has been going on for much too long now!")

– "En?" – "We hebben het bijgelegd. Het berustte allemaal op een misverstand."
("And?" – "We've resolved everything. It was all due to a misunderstanding.")

Expressions:
– "De strijdbijl begraven": to bury the hatchet.
– "Zand erover!": let's forget it! Let bygones be bygones, etc. Literally: "cover it with sand!"

Example:
– "Ok, zand erover, we beginnen met een schone lei!"
("Alright, let's forget it, we'll start (again) with a clean slate!")

Related words:
– Conflict: conflict [noun] [het conflict, de conflicten].
– (Het) Goedmaken: to make amends, to reconcile, to make up [verb] [maakte goed, goedgemaakt].

Example:
– "Na een fikse ruzie hebben Franka en Casper het weer goedgemaakt."
("After a hefty fight, Franka and Casper made up again.")

– Oplossen: to resolve [verb] [loste op, opgelost].
– Verzoening: reconciliation [noun] [de verzoening, de verzoeningen].

Extra:
The picture shows Rudi Völler and Frank Rijkaard in the 1988 European championship football/soccer semi-final between West-Germany and the Netherlands. The Netherlands moved on to the final and beat Russia which is the only time we ever won a (football) final. It is said that both players "hebben het bijgelegd" after the match 🙂

2. to contribute, compensate/make up (financially)
[verb]
[bij-leg-gen, leg-de bij, bij-ge-legd]

When there is a deficit you will have to "bijleggen" 🙂 It is sometimes also used when you are losing money on a deal (e.g. offering somebody a very good (financial) deal, but having to invest money to make it happen).

Examples:
– "Jongens, er ligt niet voldoende geld op tafel om de rekening te voldoen, hup, iedereen 5 euro bijleggen!"
("Guys, there is not enough money on the table to settle the bill, come on, everybody contribute (another) 5 euro!")

– "Uiteindelijk heb ik maar gewoon een tientje bijgelegd om van het gezeik af te zijn!"
("Eventually I (just) put in a tenner more in order to be done with all the fuss!")

– "Ik moest van Den Haag naar Amsterdam rijden om m'n stereo te verkopen. Ja, dan moet ik erop bijleggen, ik ben gekke Henkie niet!"
("I was supposed to drive from The Hague to Amsterdam in order to sell my stereo. Right, that way I'll lose money on it, I'm not stupid!!" In this example you may also hear "toeleggen" instead of "bijleggen".)

Related words:
– Tekort: deficit [noun] [het tekort, de tekorten].
– Aanvullen: to supplement, to complete [verb] [vulde aan, aangevuld].
– Rekening: bill, check [noun] [de rekening, de rekeningen].