Zwoegen

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to toil Iconspeaker_3
[verb]
[zwoe-gen, zwoeg-de, ge-zwoegd]Verhuisdozen

"Zwoegen" is not something you do for fun. It involves real hard work. "Zwoegen" is mostly used in the physical sense, but can also be used when someone puts real serious efforts into achieving a certain goal. As opposed to the English "blood, toil, tears and sweat", Dutch leaves out the toil (as English does sometimes) and refer to "bloed, zweet en tranen" ("blood, sweat and tears").   

Examples:
– "Na een ochtend zwoegen hadden we alle verhuisdozen in de vrachtwagen geladen." 
("After a morning of toil we had loaded all the moving boxes into the truck.")

– "Lolu heeft moeten zwoegen om toegelaten te worden als comedian van Boom Chicago." 
("Lolu has had to toil to get admitted as a comedian at Boom Chicago.")

– "Annie moest hard zwoegen om het wiskundetentamen op tijd af te krijgen."
("Annie had to work really hard to finish the maths exam on time.")

– "Na een avond en nacht zwoegen bereikten de sociale partners een akkoord over een nieuwe CAO." 
("After an evening and a night of toil the social partners [trade unions and employer’s organisation] reached  an agreement on a new labour condition agreement." Please note that CAO abbreviates "Collectieve ArbeidsOvereenkomst", meaning "Collective Labour Agreement".)

– "Chinese boeren zwoegen om de voedselvoorraad te vergroten." 
("Chinese farmers toil to expand the food supply.")

Expressions:
– "Het is zwoegen, zwoegen en nog eens zwoegen": it’s extremely hard work.

Related words:
– Zweten: to sweat [verb] [zweette, heeft gezweet].
– Bloed: blood [noun] [het bloed, <no plural>].
– Traan: tear [noun] [de traan, de tranen].

Reserveren

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to reserve Iconspeaker_3
[verb]
[re-ser-ve-ren, re-ser-veer-de, ge-re-ser-veerd]

5588277055_8fe4a2fa79_zYou will hear both “reserveren” and “een reservering maken”, but “reserveren” is more common. The past participle “gereserveerd” is also used as an adjective or adverb, see the Related words.
(Photo: Frederico Duarte (flickr.com) – some rights reserved.)

Examples:
– “Deze parkeerplaats is gereserveerd voor de ambassadeur van Turkije.” 
(“This parking space is reserved for the ambassador of Turkey.”)

– “Goedemiddag, met Sander, ik zou graag twee kaartjes reserveren voor de show ‘Yankee Come Back‘ van vanavond.”
(“Good afternoon, this is Sander (speaking), I would like to reserve two tickets for tonight’s show ‘Yankee Come Back’.”)

– “Goedenavond, wij zouden hier graag eten.” – “Ehm, hebt u gereserveerd?”
(“Good evening, we would like to have dinner here.” – “Hm, have you made reservations?”)

– “Wist je dat je op de site www.belbios.nl voor alle films in Nederland kaartjes kan reserveren?”
(“Did you know that at www.belbios.nl you can reserve tickets for all movies in the Netherlands?”)

– “Reserveren? Voor vanavond? Nee joh, die film draait al weken, dat is echt niet meer nodig.”
(“Reserve tickets? For tonight? No way, that movie has been playing for weeks, it is really not necessary anymore.”)

Related words:
– Reservering: reservation [noun] [de reservering, de reserveringen].
– Gereserveerd: reserved [adverb/adjective].

Example:
– “Onze nieuwe buurman is een aardige man, maar hij komt toch nog wat gereserveerd over.”
(“Our new neighbour is a friendly guy, but he still comes across a bit reserved.”)

Dat zit er dik in!

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I wouldn’t be surprised, that
is more than likely, there’s every chance of
that Iconspeaker_3
[Dutch phrase of the week]

Datzaterdikin
"Dik" usually means "thick" or "fat", but it can also mean "ample"
or "good", as in "we zitten hier al een dik uur te wachten" ("we have
been waiting here for a good hour"). One uses "dat/het zit er dik in"
when something is an obvious consequence, or was expected to happen.

There are many expressions with "dik", see below for another two.

Examples:
– "De trein had vertraging en nu heeft Frank
dus ook het vliegtuig gemist!" – "Ja, dat zat er dik in; hij had beter
een trein eerder kunnen nemen!" 
("The train was delayed and
hence Frank also missed his flight!" – "Yup, I expected that to happen,
he should have taken an earlier train!")

– "Het is uit tussen Michiel en Patricia…" – "Dat zat er dik in, ze hadden al maanden ruzie." 
("It is over between Michiel and Patricia…" – "That does not surprise me at all, they have been fighting for months.")

– "Het zit er dik in dat het straks gaat regenen; er is regen voorspeld en ik zie alleen maar donkere wolken." 
("It is very likely to start raining soon; they predicted rain and I only see dark clouds.")

– "Het zit er dik in dat de prijzen weer gaan stijgen nu dat het aantal klanten afneemt." 
("Most probably the prices will rise again now that the number of customers is decreasing.")

– "Ze zijn laat met de DWOTD vandaag!" – "Dat zat er dik in, vorige week hebben ze ook al niets gedaan!" 
("They are late with the DWOTD today!"- "I’m not surprised as they didn’t do anything at all last week!")

Expressions:
– "Het ligt er dik bovenop": it is quite obvious.
– "Dat komt dik voor elkaar": that will work out fine.

Zee

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sea Iconspeaker_3
[noun]
[de zee, de zee-ën]Zee_2

Half of the surface of the Netherlands – literally: the "low lands" – is below sea level: "zeeniveau". The sea is everywhere in Dutch history. In 1953, a large part of the province of Zeeland was flooded, killing over 1800 people. After this tragedy, the Deltawerken were constructed.

Note the plural of "zee": "zeeën". If a syllable ending on an -e or -ie is stressed, the plural gets an extra "e". Since "zee" has only one syllable, the plural gets an extra " e".

Examples:
– "De woeste zee sloeg tegen de rotsen." 
("The savage sea beat against the rocks.")

– "Heb je zin om naar zee te gaan? Het is zo’n lekker weer!" 
("Do you feel like going to the sea? The weather is so nice!")

– "De zee bij Capri is prachtig groenblauw." 
("The sea near Capri is beautifully green-blue.")

– "Dit huis heeft echt een zee van ruimte binnen." 
("This house is really spacious inside.")

Expressions:
– "Water naar de zee dragen": to carry coals to Newcastle, to perform a useless activity.
– "Zo rijk als de zee diep is": filthy rich. Lit.: as rich as the sea is deep.
– "Een echte schipper bevaart ook de Rode Zee": <informal> a real man always makes love to his woman, even when she’s having her period. Lit.: a real skipper also sails the Red Sea.
– "Met iemand in zee gaan": to do business with someone, to cooperate with someone. Lit.: to go into sea with someone.
– "Recht door zee": honest, straight forward. Lit.: straight through sea.

Related words:
– Water: water [noun] [water, de wateren].
– Watersnood: flood, inundation [noun] [de watersnood, de watersnoden].
– Overstroming: flooding [noun] [de overstroming, de overstromingen].
– Zeewater: sea water [noun] [het zeewater, <no plural>].
– Oceaan: ocean [noun] [de oceaan, de oceanen].
– Golf: wave [noun] [de golf, de golven].

Extra:
The Normaal Amsterdam Peil (lit.: Normal Amsterdam Level, usually abbreviated to NAP) is the reference to which altitude measurements in the Netherlands are related. For ease of use, the NAP is alligned with the average sea level, but in fact it’s higher.

Wonder boven wonder

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miraculously, by a miracle, for a wonder  Iconspeaker_3
[Dutch phrase of the week]
Wonderwoman

The Dutch word "wonder" translates to the english "wonder" or "miracle". The expression literally translates to "wonder above wonder": by a miracle / for a wonder.

Examples:
– "Wonder boven wonder zijn er geen mensen gewond geraakt bij die kettingbotsing." 
("Miraculously, no people got hurt in that multiple car collision.")

– "Wonder boven wonder heeft de oude man de hevige brand overleefd." 
("By a miracle, the old man survived the intense fire.")

– "De vrouw heeft bij haar val uit een raam vanaf de tweede verdieping wonder boven wonder niks gebroken." 
("Miraculously, the woman didn’t break anything when she fell from a window on the second floor.")

Expressions:
– "De wonderen zijn de wereld nog niet uit": wonders (will) never cease.

Related words:
– Wonder: wonder, miracle [noun] [het wonder, de wonderen].
– Verrassing: surprise [noun] [de verrassing, de verrassingen].
– Verbazing: astonishment [noun] [de verbazing, <no plural>].

Extra:
Check out the lyrics of a famous Dutch children’s song called "Ik zag twee beren broodjes smeren" (lit.: I saw two bears making sandwiches).

Ik zag twee beren broodjes smeren
Oh, het was een wonder
‘t Was een wonder, boven wonder,
dat die beren smeren konden
Hi hi hi, ha ha ha
Ik stond erbij en ik keek er naar