1. fool, lunatic, nutcase, loony [noun] [de gek, de gekken]

You can often hear the noun "gek" being used informally between friends to address eachother when expressing disbelief about the other person’s actions or comments.

Examples:
- "Ga je dit jaar kamperen?" – "Nee gek, dat is toch niks voor mij!"
("Are you going camping this year?" – <informally:> "No fool, that is not my thing!" Literally: "…, surely that is nothing for me!")

- "Je moet uitkijken gek!"
(<in traffic:> "You have to watch out you fool!")

Expressions:
a) "Gekkenhuis!": literally meaning "madhouse", this word is often informally used to express disbelief about a situation, a bit like the word "bizar".

Examples:
- "… en toen hebben we nog tot 11 uur ‘s ochtends doorgefeest!" – "Echt? Gekkenhuis!!"
("… and then we partied on until 11 o’clock in the morning!" – "Really? Bizar!!")

- "Het was echt een gekkenhuis in de stad!"
("It was really insane downtown!", implying it was really crowded etc.)

b) "Dat is gekkenwerk!": literally "that is work for lunatics", this is used to describe that something is impossible to realize or just crazy to try to begin with.

Related words:
- "Mafkees": lunatic.
- "Dwaas": fool.
- "Mongool": moron. Although politically incorrect you will often hear this word used as a term of abuse.

2. crazy, mad, weird, strange, insane [adjective]

Examples:
- "Ben je soms gek?"
("Are you crazy or what?")

- "Ben je gek ofzo?"
("Are you crazy or what?")

- "Ik ben toch niet gek!"
("I’m not crazy, am I?" This is often used in arguments to emphasize that you must be right (unless when you are really crazy of course )

- "Ik ben gek op jou!!"
("I’m crazy about you!!)

- "Wat gek, ik kan mijn sleutels nergens vinden!"
("Strange, I can’t find my keys anywhere!")

- "Vind je ook niet dat jouw broer gekke vrienden heeft?"
("Don’t you also think your brother has weird friends?")

- "Let maar niet op hem, hij is gek!"
("Don’t pay attention to him, he is mad!")

Expression:
A well-known expression in Dutch is: "Doe maar gewoon, dan doe je al gek genoeg!"

It literally translates to: "Just act normally, then you act crazily enough!" and basically says to keep your posture and be normal and definitely do not let yourself go. This mentality is a result of the influence of Calvanism on the Dutch culture.

Related words:
- "Gestoord": insane (mental state).
- "Maf": weird, strange.