10 Useful Dutch Words for Your Home Renovation

Are you in the middle of a house renovation, or planning to transform your home? Here are 10 words that are extremely useful and also some tips now and then how you can remember easily remember them and if there is a funny second meaning, then we will also tell you. You never know, some extra vocabulary could always be handy once the home transformation is over.

1. Do it yourself

Doe-het-zelf, literally do it (your)self, is also a verb in Dutch. Ik (I) doe-het-zelf dit weekend makes perfect sense, and… the person who does it is simply called doe-het-zelver. If you like, you can say in Dutch: Ik ben doe-het-zelver, ik doe alles (everything) zelf.

By the way, if you like, you can also use it sarcastically with your schoonmoeder (mother-in-law), for example. Then, for another dramatic effect, you can also throw in the word lekker (tasty), and then you can say something like this: doe het lekker zelf. Now it means: why don’t you do it? I am not going to do it for you!

2. It is both a little chore and an official assignment

Een klus in Dutch is any work that you need to do in your home and also in your garden. By the way, did you know that ‘also’ at work can also mean ‘job’ or ‘assignment’? If you are a freelancer and someone hires you, you can say: ‘ik heb een klus’, which means you can earn some money again and that you will be busy for a while.

Klussen is also a verb; we klussen dit weekend means that you are working on your house. Een klusser is a person who likes to do doe-het-zelf-werk, and sometimes een klusser can have a questionable reputation; sometimes it could stand for een amateur. A popular program on Dutch television is Help! Mijn man is een klusser, and then it turns out that more than once, it has a disastrous effect on the house and the marriage!

By the way, have you noticed that Dutch people love to make words smaller by adding –je? Klus is no exception. Klusje often stands for a little chore, something that could be quickly fixed. The only problem, of course, is that many klusjes can quickly add up, and then it turns into een enorme klus, which in Dutch means loads and loads of work.

3. How to say renovation in Dutch

The easiest words you could use are ‘renovatie’ and ‘renoveren’ as a verb. We renoveren het huis, which should be easy to remember.

Another word is also verbouwen… Do you know het Concertgebouw? Then maybe you could have guessed that het gebouw is a building, and that bouwen means to build. When you say ‘verbouwen,’ however, the meaning changes a bit. Now it means that you build to transform, and now you can say: ik zit (I sit) in een verbouwing.

Verbouwen can also have a more aggressive meaning. It can mean that you want to hit someone and transform the face of someone or another body part. If a Dutch person shouts at you: ik ga je verbouwen, I am going to rebuild you, then it is never about a positive transformation. Make sure you are strong enough, or run away.

4. Now that you painted the door, why not paint your hair as well?

Schilderen in Dutch means ‘to paint,’ and it has to do with schild, a shield. People say that Dutch shields used to be boring, and that all of a sudden the idea came up to paint them to give them some colour.

Just like in English, schilderen can mean anything… Een deur (door), een raam (window) and who knows? If you like, you can paint a newer version of De Nachtwacht (a famous painting of Rembrandt).

Verf is paint, and if you say ‘ik verf’, it means you paint. You can do it with a door and also with your hair. In Dutch, there is no special word for to dye. One thing is certain… ik verf sounds less scary than I dye.

5. How to measure in Dutch

Meten in Dutch is to measure in Dutch. It makes perfect sense because een meter is something you can measure, and in English, a thermometer measures temperature.

De maat is something you can use for sizing, like nails, screws, shoes, and t-shirts. However for houses and rooms you may also see the word grootte and groot means big or large. De grootte van een appartement tells you how big your apartment is.

6. How to know which nails to choose.

Sure, nagels can be nails in Dutch, but… if you ask: heb je nagels? Then people may look at you in confusion. They may check their hands, then say “nee.”

Nagel is nail, as a part of your finger that grows and sometimes you can bite on it. Make sure you go for spijkers; they are much more useful if you like working with wood.

7. How to screw in Dutch

Een schroef is a srew in Dutch. For many people, it might be tempting to say schroef je! now and then, but to the Dutch mind, it makes little sense. A Dutch person will not necessarily think of screw you, but come to another conclusion about you: er zit een schroefje los, there is a srew loose with you, and that means that you are absolutely crazy!

8. How do you say sandpaper?

Have you ever tried to buy sandpaper in Dutch? If you try to buy zandpapier, then Dutch people will not be able to make any sense out of it. In Dutch, schuurpapier has nothing to do with sand. If you say: ik schuur de tafel, then you sand the table, remove the paint, and polish it up.

Schuren in Dutch also means a very uncomfortable feeling. Imagine that someone gives you a massage with sandpaper, you would not like this, right? Het kan schuren, which means that it can feel very uncomfortable when something goes against your values. It is that special sensation you feel when your schoonmoeder (mother-in-law) is back in the house.

9. Ough! Do you hit another wall!?

De wal is a tricky word in Dutch. It is not a wall that you will find in your home. Een wal is a fortification wall that they built some centuries ago to defend a city like Amsterdam. If you talk about de Wallen, then a popular Dutch association is the Red Light District.

Een muur is the word that you need to use then. Sometimes it can also be metaphorical: if you hit a wall, you can say in Dutch: Ik loop tegen een muur… I walk against a wall.

By the way, een muur is often made of stone or concrete and heavy. If a wall is lighter and made of wood, for example, then you call it een wand. Although the pronunciation is a bit different, you can think of a magic wand now.

10. Would you put it on your wall or your face?

Plamuur is some stuff you can use if there are holes or cracks in English; one translation could be ‘putty’. You can say: ik plamuur de muur, and then you put plamuur on your wall. Plamuur is easy to remember because, as you can see, it contains the Dutch word muur, meaning wall.

Plamuur in slang can also be another word for heavy makeup, but it is not a very flattering word, of course. If you are a woman and people tell you: ‘jij zit onder de plamuur,’ it is not-so-subtle hint that you wear a little too much makeup.

Here are 10 great Dutch words you can use when renovating your house. Is there any word that we should add? Please add your thoughts here.

When you are ready to go one step further, check out the Dutch Brainwash. This masterclass is a tried-and-true program that has the power to revolutionize your Dutch. Aside from tripling your vocabulary

Albert Both

Talencoach / Dutch Flow Now