Dutch vs. English: False Friends
‘False friends? Do the Dutch and English not like each other?’, you may ask. Well, that’s not exactly what this blog is about. What it is about are words that are phonetically or otherwise very similar in Dutch and English but have entirely different meanings. An example: the word ‘Worst’ in means ‘of the poorest quality, or the least good or desirable’ in English. But in the Dutch the same word means ‘sausage’. You can see how that may become confusing.
In this blog we will cover some of those tricky false friends, to help prevent you to fall into the Dutch-English false friend trap.
Dutch-English False Friends with the Same Spelling & the same Sound
Glad (NL) = slippery, vs. Glad (EN) = happy
For example
NL = De weg is glad. (EN: The road is slippery)
EN = I am happy to see you. (NL: Ik ben blij je te zien)
Trap (NL) = staircase, or kick, vs. Trap = deceive, or imprison
For example
NL = Ik loop de trap op. (EN: I’m walking up the stairs)
EN = I don’t like mouse traps. (NL: Ik hou niet van muizen vallen)Bad (NL) = bath, vs. Bad (EN) = unpleasant, or poor quality
For example
NL = Het bad is te koud. (EN: The bath is too cold)
EN = Your humour is really bad. (NL: Jouw humor is echt slecht)Concurrent (NL) = competitor, vs. Concurrent (EN) = at the same time
For example
NL = Dat bedrijf is mijn concurrent. (EN: That company is my competitor)
EN = Concurrent with the news, my favourite film is on TV. (NL: Het nieuws is tegelijk met mijn lievelingsfilm op tv)Dapper (NL) = brave, vs. Dapper (EN) = well-dressed
For example
NL = Hij is een dappere held. (EN: He is a brave hero)
EN = He looks so dapper in his suit, (NL: Hij ziet er goed verzorgd uit in zijn pak).
Dutch-English False Friends with a different Spelling, but the same Sound
Eekhoorn (NL) = squirrel, vs. Acorn (EN) = oval shaped oak tree nut
For example
NL = De eekhoorn eet de eikel. (EN: The squirrel is eating the acorn)
EN = The acorn is eaten by the squirrel. (NL: De eikel is gegeten door de eekhoorn)Raar (NL) = strange, vs. Rare (EN) = uncommon
For example
NL = De lucht ziet er raar uit. (EN: The sky looks strange)
EN = She is a rare talent. (NL: Zij is een zeldzaam talent)
Brutaal (NL) = cheeky, or rude vs. Brutal (EN) = savagely violent, or cruel
For example
NL = Doe niet zo zo brutaal! (EN: Don’t be so rude!)
EN = He is a brutal emperor. (NL: Hij is een wrede keizer)
Mening (NL) = opinion, vs. Meaning = what is meant by a word, text or concept
For example
NL = Dit is mijn mening. (EN: This is my opinion)
EN = What is the meaning of that word? (NL: Wat is de betekenis van dat woord?)
Rumoer = noise, vs. Rumor/rumour = gossip
For example
NL = Wat is het rumoerig in dit café. (EN: It’s so noisy in this café)
EN = That’s just a rumour. (NL: Dat is maar een gerucht)
You may notice something remarkable when going through these words, namely: many of these ‘false friends’ actually have a lot to do with each other. Quite often the words are derivatives of each other, as both English and Dutch are Germanic languages. We won’t go into the whole history of the Dutch language in this blog, but there will be another blog dedicated to the origin of the language and its relation to other, similar, languages.