absolutely, sure, certain
[adverb/adjective]

"Zeker" can mean many things: it can be used as an affirmative reply to a question ("absolutely!") but also in both meanings of "certain" (see Examples) and when referring to people as "confident". Its antonym is "onzeker" and is mostly used in the translation "insecure".

In reply to a question, sometimes "ja" is added: "jazeker", which makes the affirmation even stronger.

Examples:
– "Gaan we nog naar het theater vanavond?" -" (Ja)zeker, ik heb me er de hele week op verheugd!" 
(-"Are we still going to the theatre tonight?" -"(Yes) absolutely, I’ve been looking forward to it all week!")

– "Heb je een leuke Bevrijdingsdag gehad? -"Jazeker! Ik ben naar een van de festivals gegaan." 
(-"Did you have a nice Liberation Day?" -"Absolutely yes! I went to one of the festivals." )

– "Ik weet zeker dat zij dat een leuk cadeau zou vinden." 
("I know for sure that she would like that present.")

– "Het is zeker dat Jacob Zuma de nieuwe president van Zuid-Afrika wordt." 
("It’s certain that Jacob Zuma will be the new president of South-Africa.")

– "Ik ben er zeker van dat het gezellig wordt als hij er bij is." 
("I’m sure that it will be great fun if he’ll be there.")

– "Hij heeft zo’n drukke baan dat hij zeker weer geen tijd heeft om af te spreken." 
("He has such a busy job that he probably won’t have time to meet up [he never does].")

– "Zij komt erg zelfverzekerd over, terwijl hij erg onzeker lijkt." 
("She comes across very self-confident, whereas he seems quite insecure.")

– "Ik ben op zoek naar een zekere meneer Janssen." 
("I’m looking for a certain Mr. Janssen.")

– "In zekere zin heb je gelijk als je vindt dat Van Basten de juiste beslissing heeft genomen om Ajax te verlaten, maar aan de andere kant is het jammer." 
("In a way you’re right if you think that Van Basten made the right choice to leave Ajax, but on the other hand it’s a pity.")

Expressions:
– "Zeker weten": to know for sure.
– "Vast en zeker": definitely, certainly.
– "Zeker van zijn zaak zijn": to be absolutely sure of one’s ground.

Example:
– "Je brengt hem niet zomaar op andere gedachten, hij is zeker van zijn zaak."
("You won’t change his mind easily, he is absolutely sure of his ground.")

– "Het zekere voor het onzekere nemen": to be on the safe side.
– "Zijn leven niet zeker zijn": not be sure of one’s life.

Related words:
– Onzeker: insecure [adjective/adverb].
– Verzekeren: assure, insure, secure [verb] [verzekerde, verzekerd].
– Zelfverzekerd: self-confident [adjective/adverb].

Extra:
Instead of "vast en zeker", the Flemish use the expression "zeker en vast"…

Liberation Day
[noun]
[de be-vrij-dings-dag, de be-vrij-dings-da-gen]

Wondering why the Dutch national flag has been put out everywhere today? It’s Liberation Day: the day that the Netherlands were freed from German occupation: May 5th, 1945. It was the end of World War II in the Netherlands.On May 5th, there are festivities everywhere, and there are a number of so called "bevrijdingsfestivals", which are usually free open air concerts where Dutch pop/rock artists perform in front of large audiences.

Liberation Day is preceded by "Dodenherdenking" (Remembrance of the Dead), every year on May 4th. Not only the fallen soldiers and victims of the Second World War are remembered, but the Dutch lives lost in every war and peace mission the Netherlands were involved in. During "Dodenherdenking", the flags are flown at half-mast.

Examples:
– "Vandaag is het Bevrijdingsdag! Heb je de vlag al uitgehangen?" 
("Today is Liberation Day! Have you put out the flag already?")

– "Vanwege Bevrijdingsdag, zijn er vandaag overal bevrijdingsfestivals." 
("Because of Liberation Day, there are liberation festivals everywhere today.")

Related words:
– Vrij: free [adjective].
– Bevrijden: to free, to liberate [verb] [bevrijdde, bevrijd].
– Bevrijding: liberation [noun] [de bevrijding, de bevrijdingen].
– Dag: day [noun] [de dag, de dagen].

Extra:
There’s always a bit confusion whether "Bevrijdingsdag" is an official holiday or not. Well…it is an official holiday, but not everyone has a day off. The Dutch government has decided that employers and employees should come to an arrangement themselves, which effectively means that people working for the government, public organizaions etc. get a day off, and people working for commercial organization usually don’t get a day off…

1. list
[noun]
[de lijst, de lijs-ten]

A "lijst" is a written or printed summary of items: a list. A "lijst" can be "lang" (long) or "kort" (short).

There are all kinds of lists, see the Examples.

Examples:
– "Ga door met de volgende oefening op de lijst." 
("Continue with the following excersise on the list.")

– "Selecteer uw verzekeringsmaatschappij uit de volgende lijst:" 
("Select your insurance company from the following list:")

– "Frank staat op de zwarte lijst: hij heeft al drie maanden zijn rekeningen niet betaald…" 
("Frank is blacklisted / on the black list: he hasn’t paid his bills for three months now…")

– "De lijst met klachten over deze internetprovider is eindeloos lang." 
("The list of complaints about this internet provider is endlessly long / never ending.")

– "De wachtlijsten in de Nederlands gezondheidszorg worden steeds langer." 
("The waiting lists in the Dutch health care system are getting longer and longer.")

Related words:
– Rij: queue, line [noun] [de rij, de rijen].
– Overzicht: overview [noun] [het overzicht, de overzichten].
– Boodschappenlijstje: shopping list [noun] [het boodschappenlijstje, de boodschappenlijstjes].

Example:
– "Vreemd…ik kan het boodschappenlijstje niet meer vinden…wat hadden we ook al weer nodig?"
("Strange…I can’t find the shopping list any more …what was it that we needed?")

2. frame
[noun]
[de lijst, de lijs-ten]

A "lijst" can also be a frame of some material around a painting or poster.

Putting a painting or a poster in a frame, is called "inlijsten" (lit.: to frame in), see the Expressions.

Examples:
– "De lijst is meer waard dan het schilderij." 
("The frame is worth more than the painting.")

– "Van welke houtsoort is deze lijst gemaakt?" 
("Of which kind of wood is this frame made?")

– "Wat een mooie poster! Nu nog een mooie lijst, en dan kan-ie aan de muur."
("What
a nice poster! We’ll just need a nice frame, and we can hang it on the
wall." Note the colloquial use of "ie" instead of "hij".)

Expressions:
– "Dat is er eentje om in te lijsten": that’s one to remember. Lit.: that’s one to frame.

Related words:
– Schilderij: painting [noun] [het schilderij, de schilderijen].
– Doek: canvas [noun] [het doek, de doeken].