10 funny Dutch expressions

Expressions are a great way to learn new languages. First of all, there's the new vocabulary. Second, you'll learn about the way sentences are structured. And third, you can surprise natives with you knowledge. So let's see 10 funny expressions in Dutch.

Iemand in het ootje nemen.
Literally, that's 'to take someone in the little o'. Which of course is a very silly thing to say in English. However, in Dutch it means to fool someone.

Het hek is van de dam.
Meaning the gate is from the dam. Well, that's silly again. But in Dutch it means there's a situation where everyone does what he or she wants. Chaos.

De ochtendstond heeft goud in de mond.
The morning has gold in its mouth. Why? Well, if you work a lot in the morning, while others are sleeping, you will get rich. So wake up early to become a millionaire!

Een ezel stoot zich geen twee keer aan dezelfde steen.
A donkey doesn't hit his head twice on the same stone. Means that you shouldn't make the same mistake twice.

De mosterd halen bij.
That's to get the mustard with someone or something. Meaning you're getting your inspiration from somewhere else, which is not specified here. It still has to be added after 'bij'.

Iemand bij de kraag vatten.
To catch someone with the collar. It means to apprehend someone.

Een oogje dichtknijpen.
Literally, that's to close one little eye. Meaning you'll allow someone to do something he or she shouldn't do.

Uit de doeken doen.
To do something from the clothes. That's an expression just to say to explain.

Tegen de lamp lopen.
To run against the lamp. That's when you get apprehended, when you're caught doing something you shouldn't.

Twee handen op één buik.
Two hands on one belly. When two persons really get along, you can say it.

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Multilingual countries in Europe: who has the most official languages?

There's a difference between multilingual countries and multilingual persons. Some countries have more than one official language, but that doesn't mean that all the inhabitants speak all those languages. Multilingual persons are those that speak more than one language. There's many benefits to that, for example a better capacity to memorise.

Let's see which countries in Europe have more than one official language:

• In the north of Serbia, there's 'only' 7 official languages. Yes, 7. Serbian, Croatian, Romanian, Ruthanian, Hungarian, Slovak and Czech. One advantage: they're quite similar. No wonder so many Serbians are multilingual.

• Switzerland has 4 official languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. However, the use depends on the different parts of Switzerland called cantons.

• Belgium, one of Europe's strangest countries when it comes to language arrangements, has three official languages: Dutch, French and surprisingly German. Dutch is mostly spoken in the north of the country and French in the south. German is spoken in the east region near Germany.

Official languages in Europe, copyright: public domain

• Luxembourg, the small country in between Belgium, Germany and France combines French, German and Luxembourgish. Many Luxembourgians are multilingual, and the three languages are official nation-wide, unlike Belgium.

• Belarus, Europe's last dictatorship, has two official languages: Russian and Belarusian.
• Cyprus, divided in two, has surprisingly both Turkish and Greek as official languages. That's because there were many Turkish living there before Turkey's invasion of 1974. However, in the Turkish part only Turkish is an official language.
• Finland's official languages are Finnish and Swedish, since there's quite a minority of Swedish persons living there.
• Ireland also has two official languages: Irish and English. Irish or Gaelic is also an official language of the European Union.
• Kosovo has Albanian and Serbian as official languages.
• Maltese nationals usually speak Maltese at home and English when studying at the University. They're both official languages, so it's easy for tourists to go there.
• The Netherlands have Dutch and Frisian as official languages. Frisian is spoken by half a million persons, and is one of the closest languages to English.

Interested? There's many more countries in Europe that grant certain rights to certain languages. Check them all out on Wikipedia.