342. Vinger

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.Lange_vingers
- "Hand": hand.
- "Vingerafdruk": fingerprint.
- "Vingervlug": nimble/light-fingered.
– "Lange vingers": sponge-fingers (that you need to make ‘tiramisu’).
- "Vingeren": to finger.

2 thoughts on “342. Vinger

  1. 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!

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