179. Pil

pill [noun] [de pil, de pillen]

"Pil" is used for medicine, anti-conception and drugs. The diminutive is "pilletje"; in general diminutives of nouns with base "-il" end in "-illetje".

Examples:
- "Wat wordt het? De rode of de blauwe pil?"
("What is it going to be? The red or the blue pill?")

- "Ik heb wat pillen gekregen van de dokter."
("The doctor provided me with some pills.")

- "Neem tweemaal daags een pil na de maaltijd."
("Take a pill two times a day after a meal.")

- "Volgens mij is daar wel een pilletje voor."
(Literally: "According to me there is a pill for that" this is like informally saying "I believe there exists medicine for that.")

- "Slik jij de pil?"
("Are you on the pill?" Lit.: "Do you swallow the pill?" In this context the diminutive "pilletje" is never used.)

- "Ik ben gestopt met de pil."
("I have stopped taking the pill.")

- "Sommige mensen slikken wel eens een pilletje bij het uitgaan."
("Some people take a pill once in a while when they go out." In this context it is common to use the diminutive "pilletje".)

Expression:
- "Het is een bittere pil.": it is a bitter pill to swallow.

Example:
- "Zijn verlies te erkennen, was een bittere pil voor hem."
("Acknowledging his defeat was a bitter pill for him to swallow.")

- "Een dikke pil.": this is used to say that a book is very thick.

Example:
- "Jeetje, wat een dikke pil zeg! En die moet jij uit je hoofd leren??"
("My, what a thick book! And you have to memorize that??" The word "jeetje" (or "jee", "jeeminee") is derived from "Jezus", as a more acceptable substitute.)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>