Afstandsbediening

remote control [noun] [de afstandsbediening, de afstandsbedieningen]

The two words in "afstandsbediening" are "afstand" and "bediening" (see ‘Related words’).

The ‘s’ is used as glue. It is not always necessary to insert the ‘s’ when combining two words in one. But even for Dutch people that is sometimes hard to determine!

Examples:
1. "Kun je mij de afstandsbediening aangeven?"
("Can you hand me the remote control?")

2. "We moesten handmatig een ander kanaal kiezen omdat de afstandsbediening kapot was."
("We had to choose a different channel manually because the remote control was broken.")

Related words:
1. "Afstand": distance.
Example: "Ik voel een afstand tussen ons."
("I feel a distance between us.")

2. "Bediening": control(s), service (e.g. in a restaurant).
Examples:
a. "De bediening van deze machine is niet intuïtief."
("The controls of this machine are not intuitive.")

b. "De bediening hier is echt waardeloos!"
("The service here is really bad!" Literally: "… worthless!")