Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Hi guys, welcome to this Dutch lesson where I, Stella, will be teaching you 20 very important things you need when you go to the beach. So let's get started.
1. zonnebril "sunglasses"
Vergeet je zonnebril niet. "Don't forget your sunglasses."
So if you're anything like me, you'd probably forget to sunglasses half the time and spent all day squinting against the sun. So this is a really great first word, before you even get to the beach, this is important.
2. strand "beach"
Het is druk op het strand. "The beach is crowded."
So Dutch beaches are often crowded because if it is warm, then everyone within a two-hour drive wants to go to the beach. So traffic is insane and the beaches are, yeah, well, crowded.
3. zwemmen "swimming"
Laten we gaan zwemmen! "Let's go swimming!"
Swimming is one of my favorite things to do in the summer. In winter as well, but then you would really need to go to a pool because the Dutch sea is really only doable between, say, June and September or something.
4. zon "sun"
De zon is een ster. "The sun is a star."
So the Dutch word, zon, is quite close to the English word "sun" so it should be easy enough to remember. And now you've also learned the word for “star”, which is ster.
5. palmboom "palm tree"
Ik zie twee palmbomen. "I see two palm trees."
Now, actually, a palm tree is not really typical for Dutch beaches because they don't grow here, but you'll see them in pots from time to time at beach restaurants or whatever.
6. schelp "seashell"
Heb je wel eens een schelp gegeten? "Have you ever eaten a seashell?"
That just seems like the most random question ever, like, have you ever inhaled a tree of something. Umm... don't eat seashells, guys, it's it's not what they're for, it would be a mistake. However, the word schelp is a good one to practice because it has that tricky /sch/ Dutch sound at the beginning. Charming, isn't it?
7. badpak "swimsuit"
Mijn zus heeft een blauw badpak. "My sister has a blue swimsuit."
It's probably important to tell you that the word badpak only means like a one-piece swimsuit so it's not a bikini. A bikini is not a badpak, well, I guess it would be a swimsuit so there's a distinction there.
8. oceaan "ocean"
De walvis zwemt in de oceaan. "The whale is swimming in the ocean."
it's an easy one, right? I mean, it's just the same as the English word ocean, except there's an extra A in there and you move the stress to that A. Oceaan.
9. kustwacht "lifeguard"
Er is een kustwacht op het strand. "There's a lifeguard at the beach."
Now, this one is a little tricky because kustwacht is also like the beach police. So it's not just that... I think they also come out to rescue you if you're in trouble but they also, I mean, if you do something illegal or whatever they also get in their boat and go out there.
10. jetski "jet ski"
Mijn oom heeft een jetski gekocht. "My uncle bought a jet ski."
So you don't really see jet skis a lot on Dutch beaches but it happens, I suppose. At least you won't have trouble remembering this one.
11. strandlaken "beach towel"
Ik kan mijn strandlaken niet vinden. "I can't find my beach towel."
Another word we use a lot is just handdoek, which just means "towel". And laken actually means "sheet", so strandlaken put together means "beach sheet," and that's because they're usually larger than our regular towels.
12. strandstoel "beach chair"
Reserveer alsjeblieft een strandstoel! "Please reserve a beach chair."
Or if you want the full experience you can just drop your strandlaken on the sand and sit on that.
13. zandkasteel "sand castle"
We bouwen een zandkasteel. "We are building a sand castle."
So this word can be easy split up into two parts, which is zand, "sand" and kasteel, "castle".
I bet you didn't see that one coming, did you?
14. koelbox "cooler"
Kun je de koelbox meenemen? "Can you take the cooler?"
Again, here's a word that's easy to recognize because you're saying "cool-box" but with a Dutch accent. Koelbox.
15. vloed "high tide"
Het is vloed. "It's high tide."
So vloed means "high tide" and the word for low tide is eb, with EB. So it's eb and vloed. And if you're listening carefully, you can hear similarity with "ebb and flow".
16. zonnen "tan"
Ik hou van zonnen. "I love to tan."
Now, zonnen also means just "sunbathing"
because Dutch people we don't really tan easily, mostly. So make sure you always use plenty of sunscreen to protect yourself from the harmful sun rays.
17. snorkelen "snorkeling"
In Egypte kun je goed snorkelen. "Egypt is great for snorkeling."
So here again we have the word that is very much the same in both English and Dutch. I've always wondered whether it's supposed to sound like bubbles, snorkelen. Is that just me?
18. slipper "flip-flop"
Ik heb drie slippers. "I have three flip-flops."
This phrase really made me laugh because why would you have three flip-flops? Anyway, this is easy to mix up because we do have the word slippers like in English it just doesn't mean exactly the same thing, so if you're trying to say slippers then use flip-flops.
19. zonnebrand "sunscreen"
Dat is een grote fles zonnebrand! "That's a big bottle of sunscreen!"
Now, an interesting thing about this word is that zonnebrand literally means "sun" and "burn"; so the full term is zonnebrand crème, so sunburned cream to protect against sunburn. But people just leave out the last bit that's because unlike in English, you can't have sunburn in Dutch; you can't say ik heb zonnebrand unless you mean the product. So if you want to say you have sunburn, you would say ik ben verbrand, which would literally translate to "I am burnt." So keep in mind, zonnebrand means sunscreen, even though you're only literally saying sunburn.
20. bikini "bikini"
Oh nee, ik ben mijn bikini vergeten. "Oh no, I forgot my bikini."
This one's not very difficult to wrap your head around, is it? I don't think this needs any further explanation.
Right! You've reached the end of the lesson. Thank you for sticking with it, it was a long one. You now know many words you can use when going to the beach. That's all for now, goodbye and have fun at the beach!

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