piece of furniture [noun] [het meubel, de meubelen/meubels]

When talking about ‘furniture’ in general, the Dutch use the plural ‘meubels’ or ‘meubelen’. Which plural form to choose is personal preference, but we guess that ‘meubels’ is more common. Another translation for ‘furniture’ is ‘meubilair’, see ‘Related words’.

Examples:
– “Het wordt tijd om eens wat modernere meubels aan te schaffen!”
(“It’s (about) time to purchase (some) more modern furniture!” The verb ‘to purchase’ translates to ‘aanschaffen’.)

– “In de jaren ’70 en ’80 waren wandmeubelen redelijk in trek.”
(“In the seventies and eighties, wall units were fairly popular.” When saying that something is popular, the Dutch sometimes use the expression ‘in trek’ with the verb ‘zijn’.)

– “Vandaag hebben wij een bezoek gebracht aan de meubelboulevard.”
(“Today we visited the furniture strip.” Literally: “… we brought a visit…”. The word ‘boulevard’ is often used for a row of stores or restaurants, like the boulevard at Scheveningen beach. Also see ‘Extra’.)

– “Ik ben pas verhuisd en wacht nog op mijn nieuwe meubels.”
(“I have recently moved and am still waiting for my new furniture.”)

Related words:
– “Interieur”: interior.
– “Interieurverzorgster”: fancy name for a cleaning lady, literally: “one who takes care of interior [female]”.
– “Meubelmaker”: furniture maker.
– “Meubilair”: furniture.

Example:
– “Frank werkt hier al zo lang, die hoort bij het meubilair.”
(“Frank has been working here for such a long time, he is part of the furniture!” This figurative use of ‘meubilair’ is quite common.)

– “Gemeubileerd”: furnished.

Example:
– “Te huur: gemeubileerd appartement.”
(“For rent: furnished apartment.”)

Extra:
In recent decades it has become tradition for Dutch people to visit the so-called “meubelboulevards” during Easter. “Meubelboulevards” are usually situated at the outer edges of towns, near the motor/high ways. We can’t really explain why Easter seems to be the perfect time to go looking at furniture (buying is usually done at some other time), but whole families go down there. There will be traffic jams starting at the highway exit and packed car parks. Probably there is nothing better to do during Easter 🙂 This year the number of visitors was less than last year, presumably due to the nice weather!