The most important Dutch words and phrases about Time, with many examples of usage
- a Dutch Thesaurus
page. Probably all the Dutch words and phrases about time that
you'll ever need.
This page will remain a work in progress. As my wife said, 'like Time
itself, it's never finished.' I will keep adding words and phrases to
the page.
I brought together words and lines about time
from various pages of my website, and added much new material.
Because many of the sample
lines contain more than one relevant word they may be found more than
once on the page.
It's a long page, best for relaxed reading and gradual exposure.
7 (zeven) dagen in een week
28 (achtentwintig) tot
31 (éénendertig) dagen in een maand
365 (driehonderdvijfenzestig) dagen in een jaar
'7 days in a week' '28 to 31 days in a month'
'365 days in a year'
(de) week
'week'
52 (tweeënvijftig) weken in een jaar
'52 weeks in a year'
(de) maand
'month'
12 (twaalf) maanden in een jaar
'12 months in a year'
(het) jaar
(de) eeuw
'year' 'century'
100 (honderd) jaren in een eeuw
'100 years in a century'
Do note that dag
('day') has a vowel lengthening in the plural:
dagen2 ('days') -
dag/dagen Dag
can also be a short 'goodbye' - "Bye!"
Dutch (de) seconde
is only the time unit 'second.' - 'Number 2' is '(de) tweede'
in Dutch
- ordinal numbers
(Het) kwartier '15 minutes, quarter of an hour' - (het) halfuur 2'30 minutes, half an hour' - drie kwartier
'45 minutes'
100 (honderd) jaren in een eeuw
'100 years in a century'
de zeventiende eeuw
2'the 17th Century' De Gouden Eeuw
'The Golden Century'
- Holland's glorious 17th century
'Biologisch' is vroeg 19e (negentiende-) eeuwse landbouw
2'Organic' is early 19th-Century agriculture
'Biologisch' is niks anders dan vroeg 19e eeuwse landbouw
2'Organic' is nothing else than
early 19th-Century agriculture
't eeuwige leven
23eternal life
Ik heb even de eeuwigheid mogen aanschouwen
23[I have been allowed for a moment to view
eternity] - I was allowed a brief glimpse of eternity
't Is iets over acht
2'It's a little (a few minutes) past eight'
Do note that in time, Dutch 'half X' means 'half an hour
before X'
and not 'half an hour past X'
like in (British?) English.
1 één
2 twee
3 drie
4 vier
5 vijf
6 zes
7 zeven
8 acht
9 negen
10 tien
11 elf
12 twaalf
In stating a full hour
with a preposition,
Dutchmen sometimes leave out the 'uur' and give the number an
-EN ending (the old, inflected form) - with prepositions like
voor2
('before') and especially with
na ('after')
and tegen
('at about, just before') - more
prepositions below -
and do note the F/V shift in numbers ending in F. In
English, you can often leave out the "o'clock'" part but that
doesn't change the form of the number.
na acht uur / na achten
na achten 2 'after 8 o'clock'
na vijf uur / na vijven
na vijven 2 'after 5 o'clock'
tegen negen uur
tegen negenen 2 'at about, just before 9 o'clock'
(De) Zomertijd
('Daylight Saving Time' - after the clock is set back an hour in
early Spring so evenings will stay light longer)
Denk eraan dat de zomertijd dit weekend ingaat
Keep in mind that the daylight saving time
starts this weekend
Like English,
Dutch uses a variety of prepositions when specifying the
time, day or year. To indicate the 'time' and 'hours'
of an event or a condition,
where English uses 'at,' Dutch uses
the preposition 'om'
The correct use of
prepositions is one of the great problems of learning a
foreign language.
Click the arrows for more detailed explanations further below.
Numbers do not get an -E ending like
adjectives
- numbers are not adjectives.
For 'morning' there is also the somewhat difficult alternative
(de) ochtend
- 's ochtends23
('in the morning') - in 's ochtends
the D is very soft or dropped
- also: (het) ochtendhumeur2
('bad mood in the early morning')
Do note that Dutch still says avond
('evening') where English already says 'night.'
Vanavond gaan we naar de bioscoop
'Tonight we're going to [see a movie at] the cinema'
Also note the " 's Xs " figure above in for instance
's nachts
('at night') - it may look old-fashioned but it's still often used
by Dutchmen. It's also found with some of
the
seasons.
The T in 's nachts
('at night') is sometimes dropped:
Middernacht
('[12] midnight' - maybe not logical)
De hele dag
['the whole day'] 'all day'
De hele dag door2
'all through the day,' 'all day long'
't Is overdag zulk mooi weer23
('The weather in the daytime is very nice')
(De) schemering2 ('twilight') -
the grey bars in the graphic above exaggerate its length
(De) duisternis2 ('darkness')
'Tussen de middag'
means 'during the lunch break,'
say 12-1PM or a little later, between morning and
afternoon work or school - but it is a bit strange when you think of it,
literally it is 'between the afternoon.' Maybe 'and morning' was dropped
somewhere along the way.
'Vannacht' can mean either 'last night' or 'tonight'
- look at the tense of the verb:
(saying)
['Not going over one night's ice']
Proceed with great caution
Als de dagen lengen, gaan de nachten strengen
'When the days get longer, the nights get more severe'
(i.e. colder)
Nog twee nachtjes slapen
23 ['Still two nights of sleep' ("sleeps?")]
- said to children, to give the time span till an
important event like a birthday or
Sinterklaas
So 'dag' like English 'day'
can be the 24-hour period from one midnight to the
next midnight, but sometimes it's used in the more narrow sense of
'daylight time.' An old-fashioned but precise word for the 24-hour 'day' is
(het) etmaal2
voor dag en dauw
['before day and dew']
- very early, still dark, still at night
Most people use the English word for 'lunch' -
if it's a hot meal, you could say (het) middageten
('afternoon meal.')
(het) elfuurtje
an eleven-o'clock (A.M.) drink
(usually coffee) and/or a snack
Welke dag komt 't beste uit?
Which day would suit (you) best?
In English and Dutch, some of the days of the week are named after the
old Germanic gods, like Wednesday for chief god Odin/Wotan
(Dutch: Wodan) - Thursday for
god of thunder Thor (Donar2)
and Friday for Frigga (Dutch:
Freya2)- Mrs Wotan.
Like English,
Dutch uses a variety of prepositions when specifying the
time, day or year.
Mentioning weekdays or dates, placing an event or a condition
on a weekday or a date,
Dutch often uses the
preposition
'op'
For something that takes place regularly on a certain weekday,
Dutchmen may drop 'op' and give the name of the day
an S-ending instead. (English has an -S ending too for this meaning.
You could think it's just
the plural - but Dutch 'dag' has an -EN plural:
dag/dagen) -
It looks a bit similar to
's winters
('in Winter') and
's zomers
('in Summer') below
and 's morgens
('in the morning') and
's middags
('in the afternoon')
above.
Only maandag
(Monday) and woensdag
(Wednesday) commonly start with apostrophe-S in this use,
zaterdag
(Saturday) and
zondag
(Sunday) could, but it's unusual, and for the other days it would be
an unpleasant break in the flow of sounds: S-D, S-V, and it's not a
syllable break.
Speaking about a one-time event on a day of the week, 'op'
may be dropped.
(De) feestdag ('holiday')
zon- en feestdagen
2('Sundays and Holidays')
Kerstmis
(the T is often very soft:
)
Christmas (The day Christ was born)
Pasen Easter (When Christ was raised from the dead) Pinksteren
Pentecost, Whitsun (when the Holy Spirit touched the
Disciples,
seven weeks after Jesus' resurrection.) See also:
Religion
In Holland, the second days of the main religious festivals are also
holidays, most shops and businesses are closed.
Tweede Kerstdag
2
Tweede Paasdag
2
Tweede Pinksterdag
2
Oudejaarsavond 2[old year's evening] - new year's eve night.
Nieuwjaarsdag 2New Year's Day
Oud en Nieuw
2('New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, the New Year Holiday')
I'm looking forward to the Christmas [days] holiday
Ik kijk uit naar de feestdagen
I'm looking forward to the holidays
Carnaval 2'Carnival' - the festivities just before the 'fasting' of Lent
Aswoensdag 2'Ash Wednesday'
De Vasten 23['Fasting'] 'Lent' - the 40 days before Easter: moderate consumption
Witte Donderdag 2White Thursday, the day of the last supper
Goede Vrijdag Good Friday, the day Jesus died on the cross
Hemelvaartsdag 23Ascension Day, when Jesus went up to heaven, 40 days after
Easter
Maria Hemelvaart
2Mary's Ascension Day
5 Mei (May 5th) -
Bevrijdingsdag Liberation Day -
when the German army surrendered at the end of the Second
World War, 1945. May 4th, evening:Dodenherdenking
commemorating those who died in the Second World War.
Koningsdag
2April 27, the king's (birth)day. It used to beKoninginnedag
2"The Queen's Day" (April 30th) - actually the previous
queen Juliana's birthday, but the last queen Beatrix's birthday
is in Winter, less suitable for open-air festivities.
In the 2013troonswisseling
('change of throne') Queen Beatrix was succeeded by her son
Willem-Alexander
Prinsjesdag 2[little
princes' day] - the third Tuesday in September, when the King or
Queen ceremoniously presents the government's budget for the next year.
Sinterklaas 2 - December 5th,
when the Dutch Santa Claus gives out presents -
>>
(De) verjaardag
- the yearly 'birthday.'
Literally translated, 'birthday' is 'geboortedag' - a very
unusual word in Dutch, only used for that one day in the past that a
person came into this world, and
only in a sense like in 'Born on the 4th of July.' 'Date of birth'
(bureaucratic use, including year)
is (de) geboortedatum2->>
With 'wedding day' it's the other way 'round between Dutch and
English: '(de) trouwdag'2 is both
'wedding day,' the day of the vows and what English calls 'the Anniversary,'
the yearly return of that date.
Leer ons alzo onze dagen tellen
So teach us to number our days (Ps 90:12)
Tapestry by Elizabeth Sipma-Veenstra
De Maanden van het Jaar
The Months of the Year
De Seizoenen
The Seasons
januari
January
(de) winter
's winters
Winter in Winter
februari
February
maart
March
april
April
(de) lente
in de lente
Spring in Spring
mei
May
juni
June
juli
July
(de) zomer
's zomers
Summer in Summer
augustus
August
september
September
oktober
October
(de) herfst
in de herfst
Fall, Autumn in Fall
november
November
december
December
(het) seizoen
('season')
A slightly old-fashioned word for 'season' is
(het) jaargetijde 'De Vier Jaargetijden'23
'The Four Seasons' (Vivaldi's masterpiece)
You may come across the somewhat formal: (het) voorjaar2
('Spring') (het) najaar2
('Fall, Autumn') and (de) nazomer2
('the last weeks of Summer.')
For the days of the months,
Dutch uses regular numbers, and not ordinal numbers
like in English.
Keep in mind that in Dutch dates,
the day comes before the month.
Placing an event on a date, Dutch uses 'op'
Als de lente komt, dan stuur ik jou tulpen uit Amsterdam
2
Come Spring I'll send you tulips from Amsterdam
The 'date'
as 'day of the month,' for instance 'May 5th'
(5 mei)
is (de) datum2 in Dutch.
A medical, business or bureaucratic 'appointment' is
(de) afspraak
- a romantic 'date' is (het) afspraakje2
Ik heb een afspraak om acht uur
23I have an 8 o'clock appointment
Next to placing an event in a year or
month, English 'in' can also be used to
indicate the time span till a future event. Dutch says
'over'2
for this meaning.
Dutch 'over' can mean other many things, like 'past'
in telling time, for instance
vijf over drie ('5 past 3') -
(more above.)
Also see and
hear:
Disambiguation: 'Over'.
English 'within' time is 'binnen'2 which is also the
regular Dutch word for 'inside.'
'Like mustard after a meal'
- something that comes in too late and is now useless
't Nederland van na de oorlog
(The The Netherlands of after the war)
postwar Holland -
more about 'after'.
'Voor2
and 'na'
are used with just a noun or a short phrase - when there is a
subsentence with a subject and a noun, Dutchmen usually say
voordat23 or
nadat23
- though it's not always wrong just to say 'voor'or 'na.'
'Voor'2
'before' can also mean 'before' - place: 'in front of,'
like in: voor 't huis
in front of thehouse‑>>
Vijf voor drie
Vijf over drie
On the clock, 'voor'2 is 'to' and
'over'2 is 'past, after'
- telling time
(above) 't Is al over elven2
('It's already past 11')
In other time contexts, 'over' is often translated as 'in'
Dutch 'over'2
can mean several other
things, like 'across' and 'about,' and 'over' is used in
a large number of
compound words.
English 'over' also doesn't have a straight Dutch translation.
See also: Disambiguation: 'Over'
Dutch 'van'2 can be English 'from'
- indicating starting at a time.
Dutch 'tot'
is English 'until, till, to'
'Van ...tot'
is 'from ... till' - but here
Dutch 'tot'
is a little ambiguous: is the second time included or not?
- 'Tot en met'
('up to and including, through') is unequivocal and avoids that confusion.
'Van'2 is not only from a
time, but it can also mean originating
from a place. In that meaning you'll find names of Dutch people like
for instance Van Wageningen - usually
referring to the
small towns, villages or hamlets ancestors came from
when they moved to the big cities - very
few people have names of big cities. See and hear also:
Names and Place Names 'Van ...tot'
('from ... to') is not only used for time, but also for place:
'Van' also can have the related meaning of belonging to, ownership, a
connection, or the constituting material
- which is usually translated in English as 'of' -
for instance:
voor 't eten
2 ['before eating'] - 'before lunch/dinner'
onder 't eten
2 'while we were eating' - 'during lunch/dinner'
na 't eten
2 'after we had eaten' - 'after lunch/dinner'
These phrases can also be found in
instructions for when to take medication: before a meal / with food /
after a meal Op de nuchtere maag2
('on an empty stomach')
'Onder'
in this 'during' meaning is only used for 'while engaging in
activities' like walking, bicycling, praying. Onder
usually means 'under, below'
‑>>
(saying)
['he has wielded that (little) axe before'] 'he has done that
before, he has the experience'
(usually in a somewhat unpleasant task)
'Dikwijls'23
is an old-fahioned, formal word for 'often' - note that IJ is
pronounced as 'voiceless, unstressed E'
(the 'schwa')
Klaas Vaak2 is the Dutch
Sandman (an unrelated meaning of 'vaak')
'Sometimes' is the easy
'soms
- or you may find 'wel eens'2
though depending on context that can also translated as 'ever' or it can be
just a shade of meaning like a pragmatic marker -
see and hear more examples
under
'eens'
Er is soms een tekort aan tomaten - tomatentekort
Sometimes there is a shortage of tomatoes
- tomato schortage
Als de zon schijnt terwijl 't regent
krijg je soms een regenboog
When the sun is shining while it's raining
you sometimes get a rainbow
Every time (I'm trying to do it)
something comes up
'Steeds' may be from the
same root as English 'steady' - but meaning has diverged.
When 'steeds' is combined
with Dutch 'nog'
to 'nog steeds'23
it just amplifies the 'still, yet' meaning of
nog -
giving it a sense of
being unexpected like 'after all these years.' Further explained under
'nog'below.
Do note that the EE of 'eens' is in most cases pronounced as
schwa, 'voiceless E'
2
and not as the 'long E'
2
you'd expect from the spelling:
eens
- when talking about the future, 'eens' is usually pronounced
with 'long E,' in a meaning like
'someday ...' - more below
'Eens'
is often combined with prepositions like:
wel
('amplifier')
wel eens2
('ever, sometime, sometimes, occasionally')
nog
('again?')
nog eens2
('again, another time, repetition')
weer2
('again')
weer eens2
('again, another time, repetition')
Then you'll know (that) once and for all
(you won't forget it)
'Eens'
is pronounced with 'long E' in
dramatic statements like 'someday in the future ...' or 'there'll be a
day that ...' or (depending on context) 'one time only'
Then you'll know (that) once and for all
(you won't forget it)
'Eens' kan also be an almost
meaningless interjection that's often not translated
straightforwardly, or it can just give a shade of meaning (a
'pragmatic marker') that's
translated in different ways. 'Eens'
is also found in the expression:
het eens zijn (met)23
which means 'to agree, ~to be on one page with.' See
also: Disambiguation: 'Eens'
- Dutch has just one phrase for 'in time' and 'on time'
As explained in in
lesson 11,
adjectives often get an -E ending
- smartphone version English 'the late' meaning 'deceased,' a
person passed away, is
'wijlen'
'Biologisch' is vroeg 19e (negentiende-) eeuwse landbouw
2 'Organic' is early 19th-Century agriculture 'Biologisch' is niks anders dan vroeg 19e eeuwse landbouw
2 'Organic' is nothing else than early 19th-Century agriculture - 'vroeg 19e eeuwse' - here, 'vroeg' does not get
the -E ending because it is an adverb,
modifying the adjective '19e eeuwse'
'Vroeg'
is also the past tense singular of 'vragen'2 ('to ask')
>>
'Then you'll have to get up earlier, sooner'
- i.e. you'll have to be more alert and more active
'Vroeger'
is also often used colloquially as 'in the past, before'
- find more examples
below.
Vroeger was alles beter
'Everything was better in the past'
The opposite of 'vroeg'
('early') is 'laat'
('late' - not in/on time -or- at the end of a time frame)
When used as an adjective, it often gets an -E ending:
late
- laat/late2 - see
also: lesson 11
- or smartphone version
van de vroege morgen tot de late avond
23 from the early morning till [the late night] late
at night
'Too late,' past the right time, is
'te laat'
- note that Dutch sometimes says 'te laat'
where English just says 'late'
Dutch 'Weet jij hoe laat het is?'2 means
just 'Do you know what time it is?' and NOT
English 'Do you know how late it is?' which is angrily telling
someone he or she is bothering you at an inappropriate time.
'Laat'
is also the present tense singular of 'laten'
- a verb that's a bit hard to translate. See
Disambiguation: 'Laat' for more.
If
I understand it correctly, English
'on time' means 'according to schedule,' like a bus or train,
while 'in time' has a more
general meaning of 'at the right time.' In Dutch, both are
'op tijd'23
'Eerder'
means 'earlier' in the sense of 'before.' The phrase
'nooit eerder'2
('never before') is quite common.
Dutch '(de) eer'2
is 'honor' but in old-fashioned Dutch it's also 'before' - probably
related to English 'ere.' 'Eerder' looks like a comparative degree
of that 'eer,' and 'eerste'('first')
- >>
as the superlative degree.
'Zo' also has the related
meaning 'such' - usually found as zo'n2 - a contraction of
'zo een'2 - but without the
pause zo'n sounds the same as zoon
('son')
'Zo'
by itself can also mean something like 'that way' and
something similar is also found in a word
like
zoals2
('like,' 'as,' 'similar to') - and its split-up form
zo ... als2
with an adverb in between.
Zoals 't klokje thuis tikt, tikt het nergens
2345 ['There is no place where the clock ticks like at home']
'Home sweet home'
In the paragraph above we've seen
zoals2 and with
an adjective or adverb on the dotted line,
zo ... als2
- for emphasis,
net
('just') can be added:
'net zo ... als'2
('just like ...') - and it can again be de-emphasized by
dropping the 'zo.'
In a time context, English 'just'
can also mean 'barely, with little margin' or
'only a moment ago, a short time ago in the past.' Both of these
meanings can be translated in Dutch as
net
English 'then,' meaning 'at that time'
simply states what happens next, referring to something
mentioned before. It can be about
either a past or a future event. It's often found in the common,
somewhat boring
phrase 'and then ...' meaning 'after that,' giving a sequence
of two or more events.
Speaking of the past,
the Dutch word for 'then' is 'toen'23
[Then] That way you'll also hear it from someone else
(get a second opinion)
'Dan' can also be like English 'than' -
used with the comparative degree, for
instance
groter dan2
('bigger than') - more examples
in Disambiguation: 'Dan'
'at the time that' -
stating a point in time in the past
and connecting it with another event or statement (a 'conjunction')
- for instance:
'My Dad was 32 when the war started.'
For this 'when' Dutch says:
toen23
connecting conditions, events and/or statements in the present or
the future, for instance:
'When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall' or
'Forge the iron when it's hot'
For this 'when' Dutch says:
als
English also has 'if' in a similar meaning but
with a possibly hypothetical situation,
for instance: 'If it's raining I'll stay at home'
This 'if' is also
als
in Dutch
'at what time?' - a question, for instance:
'When will it be ready?'
For this 'when?' Dutch says:
'wanneer?'
You could also say that Dutch 'toen' (English 'then' and 'when')
connects statements and events of the past, while
'als' (English 'when' and 'if')
connects statements, conditions and/or events in the
present and future.
When: 'At The Time That'
- Dutch 'Toen'
'When' can mean something like
'at the time that' -
stating a point in time in the past
and connecting it with another event or statement (a 'conjunction.')
For this 'when' Dutch says:
toen23
Note the change in word order in the paired examples below: after a
statement of time or a sub-sentence stating a time,
the verb will come before the subject -
more M'n vader was tweeëndertig toen de oorlog begon
My Dad was 32 when the war started Toen de oorlog begon was m'n vader tweeëndertig
When the war started my Dad was 32word order
Toen ik het licht aandeed sloegen de stoppen door
When I turned on the light the fuses blewToen ik z'n fiets optilde
begreep ik hoe hij zo hard kon rijden
234 When I lifted up his bike I understood
how he could ride that fast
'When' and 'If' - Dutch 'Als'
English has 'if' and 'when' to state a condition for something else or
for another event to happen, or indicating two simultaneous events or a
connection. If I understand it
correctly, 'if' refers to a hypothetical situation or something that
may never happen, while 'when' refers to a common situation or
something that will happen
eventually, you just don't know at what time.
Dutch 'als'
can mean both English 'when' (it's going to happen, you just don't
know when exactly) and 'if' (it may happen, in case it happens, a
condition, hypothetical.) You may notice Dutchmen have trouble
differentiating between this 'when' and 'if.' There may be mistakes
in my English translation.
Note that in the sub-sentences right after 'toen' and
'als' objects and/or complements are placed between subject
and verb -
more
When you look sharp,
when you inspect it closely ...
'When' and especially 'if' can be combined with
'then' to the somewhat formal condition-and-result
'when/if ... then ...'
- in Dutch this 'then' is 'dan'2 - als ... dan
- though in Dutch the 'dan' is usually dropped. 'Als' can
also be dropped.
Haast je als je de tijd hebt,
dan heb je de tijd als je haast hebt
'Hurry when you have time, then you'll have time when you're
in a hurry' (informal 'you')Haast U als U de tijd heeft,
dan heeft U de tijd als U haast heeft
'Hurry when you have time, then you'll have time when you're
in a hurry' (polite 'you')Als de lente komt, dan stuur ik jou tulpen uit Amsterdam
2 [When Spring arrives] Come Spring I'll send you
tulips from Amsterdam
[If you don't do it now, when are you?] -
If not now, when?
Als morgen de hemel valt hebben we allemaal een blauwe muts
23 If the sky falls tomorrow we'll all have a blue cap
(said when someone continually offers depressing scenarios)Als het niet vanzelf overgaat ga ik ermee naar de dokter
If it doesn't go away by itself
I'll go see a doctor about itZelfs als hij geweten had dat het zou gaan regenen ...
2 Even if he'd known it was going to rain
'Toen' for the past and
'als' for the present or future is a good rule of thumb, though
it is actually about the verb tense - but don't worry about it.
In a poetic mood I could produce
this sentence and there's nothing wrong with it:
Als de oorlog begint is m'n vader tweeëndertig
23 When the war starts, my Dad is 32
Somewhat bookishly, 'if' can be
translated as indien23 'in case that ...'
Another
Dutch construction with a
similar meaning of 'if there are any ...,
in case of ...' is 'mochten er ...'2
Mochten er vragen zijn ...
In case of questions, if there are any questions ...
Mochten er problemen zijn ...
In case of problems, if there are any problems ...
'Als'
can also mean 'as' or 'like' in comparisons and
is often used in related phrases like even ... als
and net zo ... als2
- both meaning
'just as.' Zoals /or/ zo ... als2
('like') and alsof ('as if.')
See Disambiguation: 'Als' for more examples
English 'when'
can also be a question:
'at what time?' The Dutch word for this 'when?' is
'wanneer?' -
keep in mind that in questions, the verb comes before the
subject -
more
Kunt U mij zeggen wanneer de laatste trein gaat?
234Could you please tell me what time the last train leaves?
Wanneer heb je voor het laatst een brief geschreven?
When was the last time you've written
a letter?
When? / wanneer? can also mean 'under what conditions, in
which situation:'
Wanneer mag je liegen?
234When [are you] is it allowed to lie,
tell untruths?
When it's about hours, you can as well say 'what time?' /
hoe laat23
- >>
instead of 'when?'/wanneer?
Heb je de laatste tijd nog een goed boek gelezen?
Have you (still) read a good book lately?
Hoe lang nog voor we weer een overstroming krijgen?
How much longer till [we get] there is [again a]
another flood?
English 'yet' is
somewhat similar to 'still' and is also often
translated as 'nog'
- especially in the negative 'not yet' -
'nog niet'23 and
'nog geen'
- something awaiting fulfillment, a situation not
reached, a condition not met
(niet2 'not' is a kind
of adverb, stating a negative about a verb or saying an action was not
taken, while geen
'no' is a kind of adjective meaning 'zero quantity.')
Ik heb nog geen rollator
[I have no walker yet] I still don't have a walker
Ik heb nog niet gegeten
I have not eaten yet
We hebben de oorlog nog niet gewonnen
We have not yet won the war,
we still have not won the war
Ik heb nog niet gestemd
I have not voted yet
Ik ben bang dat het nog niet klaar is
I'm afraid it's not ready yet
Er is nog geen oplossing
There is still no solution,
there is yet no solution
['He had already seen the rainshower
"hanging"']
- 'He understood trouble was brewing'
Doe maar normaal, dan doe je al gek genoeg
2 Just do like you always do,
that's enough craziness already
Dutch 'eens'
(often pronounced with 'voiceless E, schwa'
as )
means 'once, sometime' -
more above
- like "een keer "23 'Nog eens'2 means 'once more,
once again' - 'again'
Kunt U dat nog eens zeggen?
Could you please say that one more time,
again, repeat that?
Who still [knows] has another joke to tell? (people have
been telling jokes for a while)
When 'Nog'
is combined with 'steeds'2
('continually, all the time' -
more above) - to
'nog steeds'23
it just amplifies the meaning of 'still, yet' - giving it a sense of
being unexpected, surprising, sometimes like 'after all these years.'
English 'still'
can also point out something unexpected,
often after an 'although' ('hoewel')
statement - translated in Dutch as 'toch'2 - See also:
'Toch'
Hoewel 't regende
ging hij toch zonder jas naar buiten
2 Although it was raining he still went out without a coat
Dutch 'nog'
in combination with a superlative degree is usually translated as
'even' in English, but 'still' may fit too.
Moeten we de dijken nog verder verhogen?
Do we have to,
should we raise the levees still (even) further?
The opposite of 'nog' / 'still' is
niet meer23
('no longer, not anymore') - though depending on context it can also mean 'not
more, not a larger amount'
English 'already' is
'al'2 in Dutch - something
happened or was established in the past, before now, or something is
surprising or unexpected.
The very old-fashioned
'alreeds'23
looks and sounds somewhat similar to 'already' - and you may find the
slightly more modern
'reeds'2 in books.
Dutch 'al' can also mean
'all, everything' and occasionally it has a meaning
indicating extremes, like 'even' - also see and hear:
Disambiguation: 'Al'
It is very possible that the words for 'time' and 'tides' are from a
common root. As the poet Robinson Jeffers said, 'The tides are in our
veins.' (1924) De getijden hebben we in ons bloed2
[literally: 'we have the tides in our blood']
Springtij
['jump tide'] - when the high tide is
very high because the Sun and Moon align, pulling on the sea in tandem
Hoogtijdagen2 ['Days of
high tide'] - heyday, the high point, prime, 'when they were at their best'
(het) jaargetijde
- a slightly old-fashioned word for 'season'
'Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen'2
'The Waning of the Middle Ages' - a famous 1919 book
by Johan Huizinga2
about the atmosphere and mindset of the late Middle Ages in France and
The Low Countries. Mr Huizinga made up the word 'Herfsttij'
himself. I used to think it meant
'Autumn Tide,' and then assumed 'Autumn Ebb Tide,' but my
old dictionary tells me
(het) tij((het) getij23)
can also be short for (het) jaargetijde ('season') - so
'Autumn Season' stressing the going down, running out, ending.
In the book title
it is usually translated as 'Waning.'
I really have no time - I shouldn't
but I'll give you a minute
- more
(het) tijdverdrijf2 is an
old-fashioned word for 'pastime' - the common word is the English
(de) hobby2 - 'n dure hobby23
('an expensive hobby')
'Period' as the dot at the end of a line is
'(de) punt'2345
in Dutch - see and hear more
punctuation marks -
Punt uit!23
is Dutch for 'period!' - end of argument.
'Age' - Leeftijd / Tijd
English 'age' can be a person's age,
for which Dutch has the word
(de) leeftijd23
('age')
Ik ben wel oud, maar toch niet
zò oud
2 I may be old, but I'm not that old (yet)
Mijn moeder zou dit jaar honderd geworden zijn
2 My mother would have turned a hundred this year
But English 'age' may also refer
to a span of time, an era,
usually in the past. Dutch then mostly says
tijd23 ('time') -
a somewhat bookish word for 'era' is
(het) tijdperk2
Actually, there's also (de) bronsttijd
(double T but with the same pronunciation as 'Bronstijd')
'the mating season' - (de) bronst2
('rut/heat')
(de) holenmens
2'caveman'
Time Ago
Geleden
is the past participle of lijden2>>
('to suffer')
Keep in mind that in a sentence
starting with a
condition (like these statements about time) the acting verb comes before
the subject:
(more)
Een paar maanden geleden zijn we naar een
optreden van Dragonforce geweest
'A few months ago we [went to] were at a
Dragonforce concert'
The Past
'(Het) verleden'2 is 'the past'
and 'verleden' is also the adjective 'past' - and you could also say
'vorig'
('previous') Gisteren
('yesterday') - see usage examples
above
But coloquially,
rather say 'vroeger'
than 'in het verleden'23
for 'in the past, before' - of course, 'vroeger' is also
('literally') the comparative
degree of 'vroeg''early' - >>
It's over for good,
it's once and for all over and done with
allang23
[already long] 'a long time ago, for a while already'
(The sample lines below all have
about the same meaning: you should have left a while ago but you
were tardy or you were delayed.)
Ik had allang weg moeten zijn
234I should (already) have left a while ago
Ik had allang op weg moeten zijn
2I should have been on my way a while ago
Ik had allang onderweg moeten zijn
2I should have been on the way a while ago
In the examples
above, 'first' and 'last' were adjectives.
They can also be adverbs / indications of time. In Dutch they will be
'eerst'2
and
'laatst'2 -
Dutch 'laatst' can be seen as the superlative degree of
'laat' and is sometimes translated into English as
'the other day,' not so long ago.
Wanneer heb je voor het laatst een brief geschreven?
When was the last time you have written a letter?
The First Time, The Last Time
English 'time' may also refer to a repeating event, like
'the first time' or 'the last time.' Here Dutch says
'(de) keer'
(the plural:
'keren'2
is not often used, and as a verb 'keren' means 'to turn around.')
See also: 'Times' in
Multiplication
below.
Gedane zaken nemen geen keer
23'What's done is done'
(You can't turn around what's done in the past)
Beter ten halve gekeerd dan ten hele gedwaald
2'It's better to turn around halfway
than to be wrong all the way'
But: tegelijk
2'at the same time'
Ze kwamen tegelijk aan
2They arrived together, at the same time
Je kunt niet twee dingen tegelijk doen
234You can't do two things at the same time
Alles komt tegelijk
234[All things coming together] Lamenting a flood of
problems arriving at the same time
Haast je als je de tijd hebt,
dan heb je de tijd als je haast hebt
- 'Hurry when you have time, then you'll have time when you're
in a hurry' (informal 'you') Haast U als U de tijd heeft, dan heeft U de tijd als U haast heeft
- 'Hurry when you have time, then you'll have time when you're
in a hurry'(polite 'you')
'Tragisch'
2
(tragische
tragisch / tragische
2)
means 'tragical' - it is not a variation of
'traag'2
('slow, sluggish, languid') above.
(de) tragedie 23tragedy
You should [go along with]
adapt to the (changing) times
de ouderwetse sleutels - de sleutels zijn ouderwets
'the old-fashioned keys - the keys are old-fashioned' De moderne sleutel - de sleutel is modern
'the modern key - the key is modern'
Dutch voorbereiden2
('to prepare')
and (de) voorbereiding2
('preparation') refer to preparing for a future event. English
'to prepare' in the sense of 'to make, to create' is
maken>>
or for food, a bit old-fashioned: bereiden2
The plural of the simple present tense is written with a single T,
while the plural of the simple past tense is written with a double T
- but they are pronounced the same
What are you waiting for?
(Often meaning: Take action!)
The Dutch verb 'waken'23
means 'to stay awake' or 'to watch over,' like in
(de) bewaker2
('guard, minder') and a word we've seen before:
(de) nachtwaker23
('night watchman')
waakzaam234
('vigilant, alert')
(de) waakhond2
('guard dog')
Related words are
(de) wake23
('wake, vigil') and wakker
('awake.') 'Wacht'
can mean 'wait!' but in compound words it often means something
like 'guard.' I guess that
'wachten' originally also meant something like 'to guard, to
watch over' or 'to watch out for.' On gates or fences you may see the
somewhat humorous warning:
See also: oppassen
231. 'to pay attention, be careful, proceed with caution'
2. 'to watch over' and passen op
23to watch over, look after, take care of‑>>
[It is so predictable what he does]
His behavior is so predictable
'Plotseling'
and 'opeens'2
are adverbs meaning 'suddenly' ('plotseling' can also be an
adjective, 'sudden.')
'Opeens' indicates a sudden, unexpected change, while the
radical change of 'plotseling' does not have to be unexpected.
[~'He talks at great length']
'His talking drags on and on'
Like in English, 'lang'23
('long') and
'kort'23 ('short') are not only
about length of time but about length in general, not only a
measure of time but also about the other
dimensions:
The Dutch noun '(de) kosten'
means 'the cost' - a price in money, energy or other
valuables, material or immaterial. The noun 'kosten' is a
plural.
The verb 'kosten' can mean the time it takes, or state a
price in valuables already paid or still to be paid.
The Dutch word
'kost'2
is a form of that verb 'kosten' but it's also is an old-fashioned
word for 'food.'
Could I [move, change] reschedule the appointment?
'Times' in Multiplication
In calculations, English uses the word
'times' for multiplication, like 'three times four is twelve.'
In simple calculations, 'times' is translated as
keer
2x3=6 (twee keer drie is zes)
two times three equals six
de tafel van twee:
één keer twee is twee, twee keer twee is vier,
drie keer twee is zes, vier keer twee is acht ...
2 the table of 2: 1x2=2, 2x2=4, 3x2=6, 4x2=8 ...
In a more scientific setting
with large numbers
or in secondary school, 'times' is
usually said in Dutch as maal2 (which can
also mean 'meal' - short for (de) maaltijd)
2x3=6 (twee maal drie is zes)
two times three equals six
6x7=42 (zes maal zeven is tweeënveertig)
six times seven equals forty-two
'Maal'2
as 'time, times' is also found
in a few sayings and standard phrases:
In Dutch, most units of measure are rarely used in the plural.
The time units ending in -R:
(het) kwartier
('quarter, 15 minutes') (het) uur
('hour') and (het) jaar
('year')
are often used as both singular and plural;
the regular plurals are
uren2
and jaren - kwartier as '15 minutes' does not have a plural.
('Quarter' meaning '25 cents' is (het) kwartje - 'Quarter' meaning 'neighborhood' is
'wijk')
(de) lente
'Spring' twintig lentes jong
2 'twenty springtimes young'
(said by slimeballs about young women)
When the statement is purely about the amount, the measurement
(usually with a number) many (but not all) units
of measurement are used in the singular:
English still has this unexpected use of the singular on a smaller scale,
in phrases like 'twenty-dollar bill' or 'nine-pound hammer' - when
used as an adjective?
More
-
Metric and Imperial Units of
Measurement Compared
Verb Tenses
Dutch uses the word tijd
('time') for the 'tenses' of the verb.
2
3
4![[a clock]](artwork2/klok150.jpg)
![[wristwatch]](sieraden/horloge200.jpg)
![[an alarm clock]](artwork2/wekker150.jpg)
![[sundial]](artwork2/zonnewijzer150.jpg)
![[radio alarm clock]](artwork2/wekradio150.jpg)
![[kitchen timers]](keuken/keukenwekkers4.jpg)
![[hourglass]](keuken/zandloper.jpg)
![[kitchen timer]](artwork5/keukenwekker330.jpg)
![[Then: me as a child on a scooter]](artwork2/stepoud200.jpg)
![[Now: present me on a scooter]](artwork2/stepnew.jpg)
![[calendar]](artwork5/kalender150.jpg)
![[diary - appointments book]](artwork5/agenda150.jpg)
![[diary, journal - daily personal reports]](artwork5/dagboekAnneFrank150.jpg)
![[a clock, 3:00]](artwork/3uur.jpg)
![[a clock, 2:30]](artwork/half3.jpg)
![[a clock, 3:30]](artwork/half4.jpg)
![[a clock, 2:45]](artwork/kwartvoor3.jpg)
![[a clock, 6:15]](artwork/kwartover6.jpg)
![[a clock, 2:20]](artwork/10voorhalf3.jpg)
![[a clock, 2:55]](artwork/5voor3.jpg)
![[a clock, 3:05]](artwork/5over3.jpg)
![[a clock, 11:58]](artwork/2voor12.jpg)
![[digital clock, 2:30]](artwork5/2uur30_142_2.jpg)
![[sunup]](lessonspix/zonsopondergang2.jpg)
![[12 O'Clock (Midnight)]](lessonspix/12uurklok2.jpg)
![[6 O'Clock (AM)]](lessonspix/6uurklok2.jpg)
![[the sun]](everydaypix/zon200.jpg)
![[the moon]](artwork3/maan200_12.jpg)
![[tapestry]](artwork2/wandkleedB600.jpg)
![[war years]](artwork/prep_oorlog.jpg)
![[eight o'clock]](artwork/prep_acht_uur.jpg)
![[an arrow pointing to '8:00']](artwork/prep_acht_precies.jpg)
![['pharmacy' with signs 'hours' and 'days']](artwork/openingstijden.jpg)
![[old-fashioned, antique
keys]](ducolors/oldkeys.jpg)
![[a modern, hi-tech key]](ducolors/modernkey.jpg)