Personal information
Personal Identification and Description
- Persoonlijke informatie means 'personal information' in Dutch. It is the basic information about a person.
- Naam ('name') is how you are known. For example, "Mijn naam is Jan" means "My name is Jan".
- Age is indicated by leeftijd in Dutch. You would say, "Ik ben vijftien jaar oud" to mean "I am fifteen years old".
- Verjaardag is used to talk about your 'birthday'. "Mijn verjaardag is op 8 augustus" translates to "My birthday is on August 8th".
- When describing physical appearance, use uiterlijk. "Ik heb blond haar en blauwe ogen" for "I have blonde hair and blue eyes".
- You can indicate your nationality with nationaliteit. For example, "Ik ben Nederlandse" would mean "I am Dutch".
Home and Family Life
- A home is a huis in Dutch, and to say where you live, you'd use woon. For example, "Ik woon in Amsterdam" means "I live in Amsterdam".
- The term for family is gezin in Dutch. "Mijn gezin heeft vijf personen" means "My family has five people".
- Moeder and vader mean 'mother' and 'father' respectively. Siblings can be referred to as broer (brother) and zus (sister).
- Talk about your pets using huisdier. Saying "Ik heb een hond als huisdier" means "I have a dog as a pet".
School and Education
- The word for school in Dutch is school, pronounced similarly to the English word. For example, "Ik ga naar school" means "I go to school".
- Discuss subjects using vakken and express personal interest or disinterest by employing terms such as mijn favoriete vak ('my favourite subject') or ik hou niet van dit vak ('I don't like this subject').
- Different years in school are referred to as klas or jaar. For instance, "Ik zit in de derde klas" translates to "I am in year 3".
- The teacher is known as the leraar or lerares depending on the gender.
Hobbies and Leisure Time Activities
- Expressing hobbies involves using hobby's and leisure time is often referred to as vrije tijd.
- Common activities such as watching TV, playing games or reading books can be translated as televisie kijken, spellen spelen and boeken lezen respectively.
- Talking about sports or musical instruments employs words like sporten (sports), voetballen (to play football) or pianospelen (to play the piano).
Remember that the information above provides the most common ways to express personal information, family life, school and free-time activities in Dutch, but depending on context or region, some variations may exist.