- Een appeltje voor de dorst
- Literal Translation: "A little apple for the thirst."
- Meaning: "Something you save for a time when you really need it."
- English equivalent: "Save (something) for a rainy day."
- Een beschuitje met iemand willen eten
- Literal Translation: "Wanting to eat a crispbake with someone"
- Meaning: "Feeling attracted to someone / Having sexual feelings for someone"
- Een brutaal mens heeft de halve wereld
- Literal Translation: "A cheeky person owns half the world"
- Meaning: "A cheeky person has more opportunities"
- Een ezel stoot zich (in 't algemeen) geen twee maal aan dezelfde steen.
- Literal Translation: "(Generally) A donkey does not bump into the same stone twice."
- Meaning: "One who makes the same mistake twice is a fool."
- Een goed begin is het halve werk.
- Literal Translation: "A good start is half the job done."
- Meaning: "If you start something off well, you're already half on your way."
- Een goede raad is goud waard / "goede raad is duur"
- Literal translation: "Good advice is worth gold" / good advice is expensive
- Meaning: not to find; not knowing what to do
- Source: Dutch dictionary
- Een goed verstaander heeft maar een half woord nodig
- Literal translation: "An understanding person needs only half a word".
- Meaning: "Someone that listens carefully, won't have to ask for it twice".
- Een half ei is beter dan een lege dop.
- Literal translation: "Half an egg is better than an empty shell".
- Meaning: "Be glad with what you get".
- Een kat in de zak kopen
- Literal Translation: "Buying a cat in a bag"
- Meaning: "Buying something that is not as useful as you thought it was"
- English equivalent: "Buying a pig in a poke"
- Een lange neus maken
- Literal Translation: "Making a long nose"
- Meaning: "Going your own way without being disturbed by other's objections"
- Een oogje in het zeil houden
- Literal Translation: "Keeping an eye on the sail"
- Meaning: "Continuously checking the state of a project or thing"
- English: "To keep an eye on something"
- Een open deur intrappen.
- Literal Translation: "Kicking in an open door"
- Meaning: "Stating the obvious".
- Een steekje laten vallen
- Literal Translation: "Dropping a stitch"
- Meaning: "Making a mistake"
- Een vlag op een modderschuit
- Literal Translation: "A flag on a mud barge"
- Meaning: "Excessive decoration of a common thing or trying to make the ugly beautiful"
- Eén zwaluw maakt nog geen zomer
- Literal Translation: "One swallow doesn't make summer"
- Meaning: "One needs more than one indication to draw a conclusion"
- Eieren voor je geld kiezen
- Literal Translation: "Choosing eggs for your money"
- Meaning: "Taking the easiest and safest way out"
- Er met de pet naar gooien
- Literal Translation: "Throwing the hat at it"
- Meaning: "Not doing your best"
- Er met de pet niet bijkunnen
- Literal Translation: "Not being able to reach it with your hat"
- Meaning: "Not understanding something"
- Er geen doekjes om winden
- Literal Translation: "Not wrapping it in cloth"
- Meaning: "Saying it exactly like it is, using no euphemisms"
- Meaning: "Not beating around the bush"
- Er zit bij hem een steekje los
- Literal Translation: "There is a stitch loose with him"
- Meaning: "He is a brick short of a full load".
- English equivalent: "He has got a screw loose"
- Gedane zaken nemen geen keer
- Literal Translation: A done deal cannot be reversed.
- Meaning: "You can't undo your actions "
- English equivalent: "Don't cry over spilt milk"
- Gedeelde smart is halve smart
- Literal Translation: "Shared grief is half grief"
- Meaning: "Having someone who shares your feelings can make them bearable"
- English equivalent: "A problem shared is a problem halved"
- Geen geld, geen Zwitsers.
- Literal Translation: "No money, no Swiss."
- Meaning: "Don't expect something for nothing." (Refers to the frequent use by the Dutch army of Swiss mercenaries.).
- Geen hoge pet ophebben van iemand.
- Literal Translation: "Not wearing a high cap of someone."
- Meaning: "Not liking someones character or attitude."
- Geen slapende honden wakker maken".
- Literal translation: "Do not wake sleeping dogs".
- Meaning: "Do not inform anyone that does not know yet of a somewhat negative item".
- English equivalent: "Let sleeping dogs lie."
- Geen nieuws is goed nieuws.
- Literal translation: "No news is good news."
- Meaning: Bad news has wings, so if nothing bad has been heard, nothing bad has happened.
- Goed begonnen is half gewonnen.
- Literal Translation: "Well started is half won."
- Meaning: "If you start something off well, you're already half way."
- Gooi het maar in mijn pet, dan zoek ik het morgen wel uit.
- Literal Translation: "Just toss it in my hat and I'll sort it out tomorrow."
- Meaning: "That is too much for me to understand so quickly."
- Haastige spoed is zelden goed
- Literal translation: "Hasty speed is rarely good"
- Meaning: "Doing something fast does not mean it is done well"
- English equivalent: Haste makes waste.
- Het aan zijn water voelen
- Literal Translation: "Feeling it from his water."
- Meaning: "Getting knowledge from intuition."
- Het bloed kruipt waar het niet gaan kan.
- Literal Translation: "The blood creeps where it can't go."
- Meaning: "The true character of somebody will always show up."
- English equivalent: "Blood will tell."
- Het lid op de neus krijgen
- Literal Translation: "To get the lid on the nose"
- Meaning: "When being too greedy one should expect to be punished"
- Het doel heiligt de middelen.
- Literal translation: "The purpose sanctifies the means."
- Meaning: "Anything goes if you really want to get something done."
- Meaning: "If you want something, everything is allowed."
- English equivalent: "The end justifies the means."
- Het leven gaat niet altijd over rozen.
- Literal Translation: "Life is not always about roses."
- Meaning: "Life is not always easy."
- English equivalent: "Life isn't always a bed of roses."
- Het onderste uit de pot willen
- Literal Translation: "To want the last from the pot"
- Meaning: "To want the ultimate profitability from something"
- Het op de klompen kunnen aanvoelen
- Literal Translation: "Being able to feel it on wooden shoes."
- Meaning: "It's obvious."
- Het paard achter de wagen spannen"
- Literal translation: "To put the horse behind the cart."
- Meaning: "Trying to solve a problem in the wrong way (a counter productive solution)."
- Het regent pijpestelen
- Literal translation: "It's raining pipestems"
- Meaning: "Heavy rain"
- English: "It's raining cats and dogs"
- Het ijzer smeden als het heet is."
- Literal translation: "Casting the iron whilst it is hot."
- Meaning: "Seize your opportunity."
- English equivalent: "Make hay while the sun shines; strike while the iron is hot."
- Het zwarte schaap van de familie.
- Literal Translation/English equivalent: "The black sheep in the family."
- Meaning: "Someone notorious for being "bad" or a misfit (out of a group of people)"
- Het zijn niet alleen koks die lange messen dragen."
- Literal translations: "It's not only cooks that wear long knives."
- Meaning: "Don't jump to conclusions on the basis of appearances."
- English equivalent: "Don't judge a book by its cover."
- Hij heeft de klok wel horen luiden maar weet niet waar de klepel hangt.
- Literal Translation: "He did hear the sound of the bell, but doesn't know where the clapper hangs."
- Meaning: "He thinks he knows the subject, but the essence eludes him."
- Hij voelt zich als een kat in een vreemd pakhuis.
- Literal Translation: "He feels like a cat in an strange warehouse."
- Meaning: "He feels out of place, not at home."
- Hoge bomen vangen veel wind"
- Literal Translation: "High trees catch lots of wind."
- Meaning: "The more important the person the more criticism they get."
- English equivalent: "Heavy is the head that wears the crown."
- Holle vaten klinken het hardst
- Literal Translation "Hollow barrels sound loudest"
- Meaning: "The louder a person shouts, the less he knows"
- English equivalent": "The empty vessel makes the greatest sound."
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