piece of cake [Dutch phrase of the week]

"Eitje" is the diminutive of "ei", and literally translates to "(little) egg"… Apart from its literal use, "eitje" is used as an expression to say that it is very easy to a perform a certain activity, in other words: to say that something is a piece of cake.

There are a number of equivalent expressions, all translating to "a piece of cake", see Expressions.

Examples:
– "Hoe ging je examen Nederlands?" – "Eitje."
("How did your Dutch exam go?" – "Piece of cake.")

– "Ben je niet helemaal uitgeput na 10 kilometer rennen?" – "Nee man, eitje!"
("Aren’t you totally exhausted after running 10 kilometres?" – "No dude, piece of cake!")

– "Ik zit nu al een half uur naar deze sudoku te koekeloeren, maar ik kom niet verder…"  – "Kom hier, deze is echt een eitje."
("I’m staring at this sudoku for half an hour now already, but I can’t seem to get any further…" – "Come here, this one’s really a piece of cake.")

Expressions:
– "Appeltje-eitje": a piece of cake. Lit.: little apple, little egg. An extended version the expression "eitje".
– "Een fluitje van een cent": a piece of cake. Lit.: a little whistle of a cent.
– "Een inkoppertje": a piece of cake.
– "Een peuleschil": a piece of cake. Lit.: a bean’s peel.

Example:
– "Deze kruiswoordpuzzel is echt geen peuleschil, level ‘Goeroe’ is in feite onbegonnen werk…"
("This crossword puzzle is really not a piece of cake, level "Guru" is in fact a hopeless task…")

– "Een koud kunstje": a piece of cake. Lit.: a cold little trick.
– "Een abc’tje": a piece of cake. Lit.: a little a-b-c.

Related words:
– Ei: egg [noun] [het ei, de eieren].