Tag Archive for: saying

My Favourite Dutch Words

One of the missionaries asked….β€œWhat are your favourite Dutch words?”
Here are my top 5 for the moment!
π‹πžπ€π€πžπ« – The adjective lekker, denotes several positive attributes including nice, appealing and high-quality. Tasty food is commonly called lekker. However, the word extends well beyond food! For example it is often applied to nice looking people, well-made clothes, nice weather and even a good night’s sleep.
π†πžπ³πžπ₯π₯𝐒𝐠𝐑𝐞𝐒𝐝 – This is a fascinating word – it is often equated to cosiness but means even more than that. For the Dutch, I think gezelligheid represents a much broader spectrum of fun, joviality or even amicable situations that are all united by a warm sense of personal comfort and togetherness. Its just a lovely word!
-𝐭𝐣𝐞 – The Dutch use diminutives much more often than we English speakers do. They make words sound smaller, cuter or friendlier by adding the suffix –tje. For example, a small dog is a hondje, a wee nap is a dutje.
𝐈𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐰𝐒𝐀𝐀𝐞π₯𝐝 – I just love the word for complicated, every time I use it, it just simply sounds much better in Dutch than it does in English!
π‡π¨π©πžπ₯𝐨𝐨𝐬 – Anyone who knows me well, will know that my favourite Dutch word of all time is this one. It simply means hopeless! And for many years it was a perfect description of my Dutch itself!! πŸ˜†πŸ˜‚
Do you have any favourite foreign language words?