finger [noun] [de vinger, de vingers] [‘vi-ngur’]
Mind that the ‘ng’ is pronounced as in ‘ring’. There are many expressions with “vinger”, we have listed only a few below.
Examples:
– “Hoeveel vingers steek ik op?”
(“How many fingers am I holding up?”)
– “Ik heb mijn vinger bezeerd tijdens het klussen.”
(“I hurt my finger while working on the house.” Note that we have a special verb for do-it-yourself activities in and around the house: “klussen”.)
– “In Nederland hoort bier met twee vingers schuim geserveerd te worden.”
(“In the Netherlands beer is supposed to be served with two fingers of head.”)
– “Het bijdehante meisje stak bij elke vraag van de leraar haar vinger in de lucht.”
(“The bright girl raised her hand at every question from the teacher.” Literally: “… stuck her finger in the air.”)
Expressions:
– “Een vinger aan de pols houden”: have/keep a finger on the pulse.
– “Om je vingers bij af te likken”: finger-licking good.
– “Iets door de vingers zien”: to deliberately overlook or turn a blind eye to something.
– “Groene vingers hebben”: to have a green thumb/fingers.
– “Hij hoeft maar met zijn vingers te knippen of..”: he only has to snap his fingers and…
– “Iets met de natte vinger doen”: to do something off the top of one’s head.
– “Zij kan hem om haar vinger winden”: she can wind him around her little finger.
– “Iemand op de vingers kijken”: to breathe down someone’s neck (as in closely watching what somebody is doing.)
– “Iemand op de vingers tikken”: to rap someone’s knuckles.
– “Iets op je vingers kunnen natellen”: you could have known that / that was to be expected.
– “Met twee vingers in je neus”: literally “with two fingers in your nose” this informal expression says that something is very easy for you to do.
Example:
– “Man, dat rapport schrijf ik met twee vingers in mijn neus.”
(“Man/dude/mate, writing that report is an easy thing for me.”)
Related words:
– “Duim”: thumb.
– “Wijsvinger”: index finger.
– “Middelvinger”: middle finger.
– “Ringvinger”: ring finger.
– “Pink”: little finger.
– “Hand”: hand.
– “Vingerafdruk”: fingerprint.
– “Vingervlug”: nimble/light-fingered.
– “Lange vingers”: sponge-fingers (that you need to make ‘tiramisu’).
– “Vingeren”: to finger.
But fish fingers are fish sticks in Belgium, right?
Hi Daphne, Flemish and Dutch have small differerences, so I can only give a definite answer for Dutch and that is that indeed we say “vissticks”. It is bit strange since “vis” is Dutch and “stick” is English, but we incorporate a lot of English words into Dutch. I did not know that you say “fish fingers”, so thanks for the question!