Verbeteren

to improve, to correct/rectify 
[verb]
[ver-be-te-ren, ver-be-ter-de, ver-be-terd]

Verbeteren Often, verbs that start with ‘ver’ indicate a state transition, e.g. ‘verbouwen’ (to renovate, re-model), ‘vervellen’ (to regenerate skin, peeling, shedding of skin) and ‘verlaten’ (to abandon, leave). ‘Verbeteren’ can therefore be interpreted as ‘to make better’. It’s also used in the translation of ‘to correct’, which makes sense because by correcting mistakes, one ‘makes it better’. The related noun is ‘verbetering’: improvement.

Examples:
– “De DWOTD-blog heeft mij geholpen mijn Nederlands te verbeteren.” 
(“The DWOTD blog has helped me to improve my Dutch.”)

– “Na de reorganisatie is de interne communicatie enorm verbeterd.” 
(“After the reorganization the internal communication improved significantly.”)

– “Sta mij toe je te verbeteren, het is niet ‘zo zoetjes aan’ maar ‘zo zoetjesaan‘.” 
(“Allow me to correct you, it’s not ‘zo zoetjes aan’ but ‘zo zoetjesaan’.”)

– “Ik heb dit artikel heel snel geschreven, zou jij het willen lezen en eventueel fouten willen verbeteren?” – “Ja dag, doe dat lekker zelf!” 
(“I wrote this paper/article really quickly, would you please read it and correct mistakes, if any?” – “No way, do it yourself!”)

– “Heb jij je BlackBerry al geüpdatet? Er is een verbeterde versie beschikbaar op de website.” 
(“Have you updated your BlackBerry yet? There is an improved version available on the website.”)

– “Als je jezelf niet wil verbeteren, dan is dit niet de juiste baan voor jou.” 
(“If you do not want to improve yourself, this is not the right job for you.”)

– “We hebben de efficiëntie van onze processen kunnen verbeteren door overhead en bureaucratie te verminderen.” 
(“We have been able to improve the efficiency of our processes by reducing overhead and bureaucracy.”)

Expressions:
– “Een record verbeteren”: to beat/break a record. We also say “Een record breken”.
– “Verbeter de wereld, begin bij jezelf”: if you want to change the world, start with yourself. ‘Change’ here of course implies positive change 🙂

Related words:
– Verbetering: improvement [noun] [de verbetering, de verbeteringen].
– Verbeterpunt: point for improvement [noun] [het verbeterpunt, de verbeterpunten].

Example:
– “Na mijn beoordelingsgesprek ben ik direct aan de slag gegaan met mijn verbeterpunten.”
(“After my performance review, I immediately started to work on my points of improvement.” Note that ‘beoordelingsgesprek’ translates as ‘assessment/appraisal conversation/talk’; it’s the (typically annual) meeting you have with your line manager to discuss your performance at work.)

– Correctie: correction [noun] [de correctie, de correcties].

3 thoughts on “Verbeteren

  1. You beat me to it!!! 🙂
    – “De DWOTD-blog heeft mij geholpen mijn Nederlands te verbeteren.”
    (“The DWOTD blog has helped me to improve my Dutch.”)

  2. How does the word “corrigeren” relate to “verbeteren”? Are they interchangeable when you’re talking about correcting, for example, an exercise done by a school pupil?
    Thanks.

  3. Hi Alastair – both ‘corrigeren’ and ‘verbeteren’ are only used when you in fact correct the mistake. In case of school tests, ‘corrigeren’ is more common. When one is only marking an answer as correct or incorrect, the verb is ‘nakijken’.
    However, when you are the student and decide to correct a mistake you believe you have made, you can use both ‘corrigeren’ and ‘verbeteren’ 🙂
    ‘Corrigeren’ is also used when correcting unwanted behaviour of children.
    Hope this helps!

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