curtain [noun] [het gordijn, de gordijnen]
One of the things noticed by expats is that Dutch people do not seem to bother with curtains (although they do have them). Some have plants in front of the window to obstruct the view of passers-by and others stick non-transparent plastic on their windows. And some do nothing to hide their private life 🙂
Examples:
1. "Veel Nederlanders houden hun gordijnen geopend."
("Many Dutch people keep their curtains opened.")
2. "Bij de HEMA kun je ook gordijnen op maat kopen."
("At HEMA one can also buy custom made curtains.")
3. "In mijn slaapkamer heb ik een rolgordijn."
("In my bedroom I have a (roller) blind/window shade.")
Related words:
1. "Lamellen": vertical blinds.
2. "Jaloezieen": venetian blinds.
3. "Luxaflex": common brand name by which "Jaloezieen" are also denoted.
Extra:
The "HEMA" is a well known Dutch department store where you can buy almost anything on which you don’t want to spend too much money. The name is an acronym for "Hollandse Eenheidsprijzen Maatschappij Amsterdam" and it started out in 1926. The word "eenheidsprijzen" means "unit prices" and only after World War II the HEMA abandoned their pricing system in which everyhing costed 25, 50, 75 or 100 cents.
Read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hema