Dutch Teacher

Spreekwoorden

ei of ij
Ik bereid de vis.
Ik berijd de vis. 😂

Beleg
Typical food for lunch. When the Dutch eat one piece of bread (een boterham), they put “beleg” on the bread, which could be anything from standard ham and cheese to sweet chocolate sprinkles (de hagelslag).

Uitzieken
Common attitude among the people in the Netherlands. The doctors often advocate “uitzieken” or to wait, take it easy and let the body heal itself.
“sick it out” until you recover instead of hastily taking medication.

HÈ HÈ
Sign of relief, for instance at the end of a long day or after an exhausting task. It can also be uttered after someone waits a long time, for instance: “Hè, hè, the food has finally arrived.

Gedogen
It reflects the tolerant attitude of the country when it comes to things like drug or prostitution laws.

LEKKER PUH
A teasing expression which means “that serves you right” or “you deserved that”. It is mostly used by younger children.

Uitwaaien
‘blowing out’ – but it has nothing to do with our soft-drugs culture. 😂 It means going for a walk and getting some air.

Voorpret
Pre-fun. It is about enjoying an event or something before it is happening. You typically experience it before weddings, parties, holidays. What’s the proper English term?' Excitement' ‘looking forward to it’. Both don’t cover it completely.

Lekker
You hear it a lot when the Dutch talk to each other. It’s often used to describe the food as being tasty, but there are ways more usage of this word. “Ga lekker zitten” means “to make yourself comfortable, make yourself at home”. “Lekker lang uitslapen” means that you sleep in long and nicely. You can also use “lekker” for a person that you enjoy hanging out with like “een lekker meid” (a nice girl). Kids sometimes say to each other “lekker puh!” meaning “serves you right!”

IJsberen
As a noun, “ijsberen” means “polar bears”. As a verb, “ijsberen” can’t be entirely translated into one word in English. It refers to the act of pacing up and down because you are either nervous or bored. The expression derived from the behaviour of polar bears in captivity when they walk around in the same circle or movement again and again.