‘How come butter and ham become a sandwich?’

Lekker
Lekker was by far the most mentioned word. It means “delicious” or “tasty” when talking about food and drinks. If somebody offers you a cup of coffee, for example, you can accept it by saying lekker. But its use extends to many other situations, in which case it means “nice” or “enjoyable”. If something makes you feel good, it’s lekker. 

Elisa, a Master’s student in Innovation Sciences from Italy, says: “It’s so easy to use and so versatile. You can use it to compliment almost anything you like: food, a good-looking person, a situation that is going well…”

Lekker is a wild card because you can insert it ahead of practically any adjective or verb: lekker fietsen (when it feels good to cycle), lekker douchen (a nice shower), lekker weer (nice weather) and even lekker bezig. Bezig means “busy”, so that’s what you say when you’ve had a productive day or you want to compliment someone for working hard. The Dutch also use this expression ironically, when something keeps going wrong or when someone just keeps making mistakes.

Gezellig 
This adjective is a mouthful for foreigners who haven’t yet mastered the pronunciation of the Dutch G, but it competes with lekker for the post of the most multipurpose word, in the opinion of international students at UU. “You can apply it to almost any situation. Anything nice can be gezellig in this country”, says Milana, a Master’s student in Law and Technology in Europe. She comes from Estonia and currently speaks Dutch at B1 level. 

Gezellig has no direct translation to English, but it is similar in meaning to the Danish term hygge, the Swedish mysa, and the German gemütlichkeit. It means both “cosy” (a nicely decorated room that makes you want to linger there is gezellig) and “convivial” (that warm, fuzzy feeling you get when sharing dinner with your friends, laughing and reminiscing about good old times… That’s gezellig too).

Although you can have a good time on your own, curling up under the blanket with a book and a cup of tea, that’s not gezellig. Gezellig is a social concept: it takes two or more people. “I really like gezelligheid because it describes the moments I’ve been living here,” says Afonso, from Portugal, also studying Law and Technology. He is not alone in appreciating the word’s sound and meaning. “Some of my friends even have a poster with the definition of gezellig in their room,” says Milana. 

Beware: gezellig can be used ironically as well. Suppose you go to a party and two people start arguing loudly. That’s when you can turn to your friend and say: “gezellig, hè?” meaning that it is anything but gezellig. 

Boterham
Boter means butter and ham means… Well, ham. However, boter + ham means… A sandwich. This is a good word to know, given that sandwiches are a staple item at lunch in the Netherlands. “Boterham sounds so happy,” says Nil, a student of Economics & Business Economics from Turkey. “Sandwiches are among my favourite foods, so I like how joyful this word sounds.”

No, your sandwich doesn’t have to contain butter or ham to qualify as a boterham. You do have to use a sliced loaf of bread, though. If your sandwich is made with a different kind of bread – say, a baguette – it is not a boterham, just a broodje. This more general term literally translates as “little bread” although it has nothing to do with size. “Remember that the Dutch are experts in sandwich making,” Nil notes.

Borrel
This word designates such an integral part of Dutch culture that many English speakers simply adopt it. “I’ve heard it so many times that I sometimes forget it is a Dutch word”, our former blogger Rafaella, a student at University College Utrecht, wrote in 2021. It means a get together with drinks. Very gezellig, therefore.

Huppakee 
You will hear Dutch people say huppakee when they make a rapid, sudden movement or when they want to encourage someone to get up and be active. The stress is at the first syllable, hup, and the word is usually accompanied by a joyful facial expression. 

“It sounds so funny,” says Nil, who learned about the existence of this word thanks to the Instagram account Let’s Double Dutch, in which the comedian Derek Mitchell makes sketches about how the Dutch behave differently than Americans and Brits “I like how the tone quickly goes up. I also think it’s curious that they use such a long and complex word for this. In my first language, Turkish, we usually react with short and easy words.”

Not only is it a long word, it also has many variations. Huppakee, hopsakee, huppatee, hoppetee, hopsa, hupsa… They all mean the same thing.

Hoor
“I once asked a security employee at Schiphol a question and he said ‘nee hoor’ really fast. I was shocked. I thought he was calling me a whore,” says Media & Culture graduate Sarah, from the USA. Don’t worry, this word only serves to accentuate or confirm what has just been said. “Nee hoor” is a more emphatic way to say no than just saying “nee”.

Sectie
Another word that gets English speakers confused is sectie. “I just kept hearing that and I was like: ‘What is sexy? Who is sexy?’” recollects Gender Studies graduate Gabriela, from Brazil, laughing. It means “section”, however. A tad disappointing, we know. 

Actie, bonus and gratis
Elisa, the Italian student doing a Master’s in Innovation Sciences, says: “I like actie because it means discount. It’s everywhere in the supermarket and that’s basically how I do my groceries, buying the things on offer. As a student, that word is a life saver!” Bonus means the same thing and gratis means “free”. And yes, the Dutchies get just as excited to see those words as you do.

Prima
Although prima means “cousin” in Portuguese and “before” or “first” in Italian, those languages are not going to help you guess what it means in Dutch. Prima means “okay” or “alright”. Use this word when something is good, decent, but not extraordinary.

Six adjectives to react to any story
“When it comes to reacting to what people say in Dutch, you can come a long way with just six adjectives,” says Gabriela. According to her, you might not understand every single word they’re saying, but if you grasp the general lines of the story, all you have to do is drop the words leuk, lekker, mooi, gezellig, jammer and vervelend from time to time, and you’ll be fine. We’ve already explained lekker and gezellig¸ so let’s take a look at the other ones.
Leuk means “nice” or “fun”. If the story sounds positive or they’re making a nice proposition, you can’t go wrong by saying: “Leuk!” If you want to impress, you can even add a hoor to your reaction. “Leuk, hoor!”

Mooi means “pretty” but it’s not only used for pretty objects. It is also employed as a sign of approval when a situation goes according to plan or expectations. “I like how mooi sounds. There’s something pretty about that long O. I do think Dutch is a beautiful language, despite what everyone says,” laughs Afonso, from Portugal.

On to the negative terms: jammer is “a pity” and vervelend means “annoying”. Those are the two adjectives to use when someone is complaining about something. They are only suitable to mild annoyances, though, such as a cancelled train or a messy roommate. If they’re talking about something more serious, like an accident or a disease, here goes a seventh adjective: vreselijk, which means “terrible”.

Compound words
Dutch has many compound words and some of them are so descriptive that foreign students can’t help but find them cute. Handschoenen (hand + shoes) means gloves and neushoorn (nose + horn) means rhino, for example. Zoya, a first-year Linguistics student from Britain, likes vloerkleed, which means carpet. “That’s literally floor clothes,” he says.

Zoya also likes the suffixes je, tje and pje, which serve to make something small or refer to it in an affectionate way. His favourite one is bakje (a little bowl). “It sounds so cute!”

Niksen
Almost any word can be transformed into a verb in Dutch by adding en to the end of it. Niks, which means “nothing”, becomes “doing nothing” when you transform it into niksen. “If you want to hang out with a friend but you don’t have any particular programme in mind, you can just invite them to lekker niksen,” explains Sarah. 

Doei and doe-doei
The meaning of these words is pretty straightforward: “bye” and “bye-bye”. But it’s not the meaning, but rather the way they are said that makes them sound funny or cute to foreign ears. The Dutch often say them in a high-pitched falsetto. “One does not simply say doe-doei with a regular speaking voice,” laughs Gabriela.