Meestal

usually, generally, mostly Iconspeaker_3
[adverb]
[mees-tal]

Trein You can also use the word "gewoonlijk" but "meestal" you will hear "meestal" 🙂 Another common related phrase is "over het algemeen": in general.

Examples:
– "Ga jij met de trein naar het werk?" – "Meestal wel ja." 
("Do you take the train to work?" – "Yes, usually I do.")

– "Het zijn meestal pas afgestudeerden die hier solliciteren, maar we hebben ook vacatures voor professionals." 
("Mostly we have recently graduated people applying for a job, but we also have positions open to professionals.")

– "Ik bestel meestal rode wijn als ik een vleesgerecht kies, maar soms doe ik gewoon een biertje." 
("I usually order red wine when I pick a meat dish, but sometimes I'll just have a beer.")

– "Ik spreek wel eens een meisje aan in de kroeg, maar meestal loopt dat uit op een fiasco." 
("Once in a while I approach a girl in a bar, but usually that results in a total disaster." Note the verb "aanspreken": to approach somebody and talk to the person.)

Related words:
– Gewoonlijk: usually [adverb].
– Over het algemeen: in general, by and large.

Example:
– "Over het algemeen zien wij elkaar één keer in de twee weken."
("In general we see each other once every two weeks.")

– Vaak: often [adverb].
– Regelmatig: regular, frequent [adverb/adjective].
– Gewoonte: habit [noun] [de gewoonte, de gewoontes].

2 thoughts on “Meestal

  1. This is almost creepy. I work in a small mostly english-speaking cafe in Amsterdam, and earlier today, I was going to try to say “this is usually served cold” to a customer, but I had to switch to english having realized I didn’t know the word for “usually.” I asked him the proper dutch word and he told me “gewoonlijk of meestal.” But, having not written it down, I promptly forgot. As I clicked on the “Dutch Word of the Day” link, I thought, “Oh yeah, I gotta look ‘usually’ up.” I was shocked to find that the answer was already on the screen… today’s word! And now I will never forget “meestal” or “gewoonlijk” again. Thanks for a great blog!

  2. Hi Mikey,
    Thanks for your comment, it is really great to hear that the DWOTD is actually useful! 🙂
    So I say, let’s turn that ‘mostly english-speaking cafe’ in a ‘meestal Nederlands-gesproken cafe’ 😉
    Groeten,
    Sander

Comments are closed.