Drie

three [number]

Examples:
– “Hoe schrijf je een Romeinse drie? – III.”
(“How do you write a Roman three? – III.”)

– “Als je een harten drie hebt, kun je met de schoppen drie een paar maken.”
(“If you have a three of hearts, you can make a pair with the three of spades.”)

– “Gisteren hebben we met z’n drieën lekker gejamd op de gitaar.”
(“Yesterday, the three of us jammed the guitar alright.” In speech ‘zijn’ turns into ‘z’n’ and the latter is pronounced ‘zun’.)

– “De drie musketiers waren altijd met z’n drieën :-)”
(“The three musketeers were always with the three of them 🙂 “)

– “Franks presentatie was om drie uur afgelopen.”
(“Frank’s presentation was finished at three o’clock.”)

– “Zondag is het drie juni.”
(“Sunday it will be the third of June.”)

– “Hoofdstuk drie van dit geschiedenisboek gaat over de Neanderthalers.”
(“Chapter three of this history book is about the Neanderthals.”)

– “<man tegen vrouw, zuchtend:> Zou je hem niet eens in z’n drie zetten, schat?”
(“<husband to wife, sighing:> How about shifting to third gear, dear?” Lit.: “Wouldn’t you put it in its three now, dear?”)

Related words:
– “Derde”: third.
– “Een”: one.
– “Twee”: two.
– “Driedubbel”: threefold, treble.
– “Drietand”: trident.
– “Trio”: trio, threesome (sexually).

Expressions:
– “Niet tot drie kunnen tellen”: to be too stupid for words. Lit.: “not being able to count to three”.

– “Alle goede dingen komen in drieën”: all good things go by / come in threes.

– “Drie is te veel”: two is company, three is a crowd. Lit.: “three is too many”.

– “Als twee honden vechten om een been, loopt de derde ermee heen”: two dogs fight for a bone, and a third runs away with it.

Extra:
Drie maal drie is negen” is a well-known children’s song that is sung by children in a group. Everytime a different child is invited to sing a song. This invitation is preceeded by everyone singing:

“Drie maal drie is negen
en ieder zingt zijn eigen lied.
Drie maal drie is negen
en <naam van kind> zingt zijn lied.”

Literally translated:
Three times three is nine
and everyone sings his own song.
Three times three is nine
and <child’s name> sings his/her song.

Often the teacher fills in de child’s name, after which the child has to sing a song of his or her choice. The rest of the group sings along (if they know the song 🙂 )