Tag Archives: bediening

Ober

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waiter [noun] [de ober, de obers]

Although this is a common Dutch word, it is not really used to draw the waiter’s attention (other than Dutch people mocking the upper class and imitating their posh accent for which "ober" is a very suitable word).
In real life, if you want to draw the waiter’s attention, just use the general "meneer" ("sir").

Examples:
1. "Ober, er zit een vlieg in mijn soep."
("Waiter, there is a fly in my soup.")

An old series of bad Dutch jokes exists of which each joke starts out with this sentence. For that reason, this is a well-known Dutch sentence (but the jokes are really bad).

2. "Heb jij de ober al gezien?"
("Have you seen the waiter yet?")

3. "In Spanje zijn de obers vaak chagrijnig."
("In Spain, the waiters are often moody.")

Related words:
1. "Bediening": service (see also 41. Afstandsbediening).
2. "Serveerster": waitress.

Extra:
Currently a new Dutch movie is out called "Ober" by director and actor Alex van Warmerdam. Van Warmerdam stands out in Dutch film making because he creates somewhat absurdist films. Read more about Alex van Warmerdam and his films at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_van_Warmerdam

Afstandsbediening

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remote control [noun] [de afstandsbediening, de afstandsbedieningen]

The two words in "afstandsbediening" are "afstand" and "bediening" (see ‘Related words’).

The ‘s’ is used as glue. It is not always necessary to insert the ‘s’ when combining two words in one. But even for Dutch people that is sometimes hard to determine!

Examples:
1. "Kun je mij de afstandsbediening aangeven?"
("Can you hand me the remote control?")

2. "We moesten handmatig een ander kanaal kiezen omdat de afstandsbediening kapot was."
("We had to choose a different channel manually because the remote control was broken.")

Related words:
1. "Afstand": distance.
Example: "Ik voel een afstand tussen ons."
("I feel a distance between us.")

2. "Bediening": control(s), service (e.g. in a restaurant).
Examples:
a. "De bediening van deze machine is niet intuïtief."
("The controls of this machine are not intuitive.")

b. "De bediening hier is echt waardeloos!"
("The service here is really bad!" Literally: "… worthless!")