Stoer

tough, brave [adjective/adverb] [‘stoer‘] Iconspeaker_3

You can say that somebody is "stoer" if he or she is tough or brave or acts that way. You can also use it ironically.

Examples:
– "Val jij op stoere mannen, of toch de meer zachtaardige?"
("Do you fancy tough guys, or rather the more gentle ones?" Notice the
verb "vallen op", literally "to fall on / on top of" but also used for
"to fancy/take to/go for").

"Ik heb een nieuw leren jack gekocht. Wat vind je ervan?" – "Stoer hoor!"
("I’ve bought a new leather jacket. What do you think?" – "Wow, you look tough!")

"Mijn vriendin is heel stoer, ze gaat helemaal alleen een wereldreis maken."
("My
girlfriend is very brave, she’s going to travel around the world all
alone." Lit. "she’s going to make a world-trip all alone.")

Expressions:
– "Een stoere bink": a macho man, a show-off.
– "Stoer doen": to act tough, put on a brave face.

Example:
  – <ironically:>"Wat doe je nou stoer man? Ga fietsen!"
("Trying to be tough man? Get out of here!")

Related words:
– "Stoerdoenerij": macho behaviour, show-off.

Example:
  – "Moet je die gasten zien in die asobak! Wat een stoerdoenerij!"
("Look at those guys in that big car! What a show-off!" Note the usage
of the word "bak" which is speech for a big car. Add "aso" – short for
antisocial – for a very big car. In the Netherlands big cars are not
always appreciated due to pollution or just being in the way (which is
easy in Dutch cities 🙂 ).)

– "Soft": the English "soft" is often used as the opposite of "stoer".
– "Zachtaardig": gentle, good-natured.
– "Macho": tough guy.
– "Softie": opposite of macho.