Tag Archives: huis

Huisje-boompje-beestje

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suburban bliss / a boring suburban existence / bourgeois life
[phrase]
[huis-je-boom-pje-beest-je] 

‘Huisje-boompje-beestje’ symbolizes leading a nice and quiet conventional family life. You have a nice house (‘huisje’), a garden (‘boompje’) and probably a pet (‘beestje’). It is not necessarily a suburban life although the phrase is often used to imply exactly that. I don’t know why we use ‘boompje’ instead of ‘tuintje’ (with ‘tuin’ translating as ‘garden’), but this phrase may in fact be derived from the typical children’s drawing of a family, a house, a tree and a dog. Note that a pet is a ‘huisdier’ in Dutch (literally ‘house animal’) and not a ‘beestje’, see Related words below.

‘Huisje-boompje-beestje’ is often used as a pejorative, emphasizing the perceived boring aspect of living such a life. A related noun is ‘burgerlijk’: conventional, bourgeois. The epitome of ‘huisje-boompje-beestje’ is having a station wagon and living in a ‘Vinexwijk’, see Extra below.

Examples:
– “Sander heeft zaterdag een keuken gekocht. Hij is nog nooit zo dicht bij huisje-boompje-beestje geweest!” 
(“Sander bought a kitchen on Saturday. He has never been this close to leading a conventional bourgeois life!”)

– “Heb je gehoord dat Annette een huis heeft gekocht met haar vriend? En ze is ook nog zwanger!” – “Wauw, ik had niet verwacht dat ze nu al voor huisje-boompje-beestje zou kiezen; zij was vroeger echt een wilde!” 
(“Have you heard that Annette has bought a house with her boyfriend? And not only that, she is also pregnant!” – “Wow, I hadn’t expected her to choose a suburban life this quickly; she used to be a wild one!”)

– “Ik hoor altijd van die stoere verhalen over de wereld rondreizen en zo lang mogelijk van je vrijheid genieten, maar ik heb eigenlijk maar één wens: een huisje-boompje-beestje-leven! En wel zo snel mogelijk!” 
(“I always hear such tough stories about travelling around the world and enjoying one’s freedom as long as possible, but as it turns out I have only one wish: suburban bliss! And I want it now!” Lit. “And (in fact) as quickly as possible!”)

– “Mike! Dat is lang geleden dat ik jou gezien heb! Hoe gaat het man? Is die station wagon van jou?” – “Het gaat goed! Ja, die auto is van mij; ik ben helemaal huisje-boompje-beestje geworden, erg hè?” 
(“Mike! It’s been a long time since I last saw you! How are you doing man? Is that station wagon yours?” – “I’m doing fine! Yes, that car is mine; I have gone completely suburban, terrible isn’t it?”).

Related words:
– Burgerlijk: conventional, bourgeois [adjective].
– Ingekakt: boring, quiet [adjective]. From the verb ‘inkakken’: to doze off, to become slightly lethargic (temporarily).
– Nieuwbouwwijk: new housing estate, new housing development [noun] [de nieuwbouwwijk, de nieuwbouwwijken]. Also see Extra below on ‘Vinexwijk’.
– Voorstad: suburb [noun] [de voorstad, de voorsteden].
– Buitenwijk: suburb [noun] [de buitenwijk, de buitenwijken].
– Huisdier: pet [noun] [het huisdier, de huisdieren].
– Tuin: garden [noun] [de tuin, de tuinen].
– Huis: house [noun] [het huis, de huizen].
– Boom: tree [noun] [de boom, de bomen].
– Beest: animal, beast, bug [noun] [het beest, de beesten]. The diminutive is almost only used in the translation of ‘bug’ or ‘insect’.

Extra:
A word that has almost become a synonym for new housing development in the Netherlands is ‘Vinexwijk’. Not every new housing development area is a ‘Vinexwijk’ though. Vinex is short for ‘Vierde Nota Ruimtelijke Ordening Extra’, a (spatial planning) policy briefing note issued in 1991 detailing the designated areas in the Netherlands where massive new housing development were to be built. Well-known examples are ‘Ypenburg’ in The Hague and ‘Leidsche Rijn’ in Utrecht.

Huisbaas

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landlord, landlady Iconspeaker_3
[noun]
[de huis-baas, de huis-ba-zen]

SandersOldApartment With owning a house being more or less a luxury for young professionals in “de Randstad“, many of us are stuck in a rented (studio) apartment for years. Apartments for rent are typically privately owned and often multiple apartments are created in what used to be just one “herenhuis”. When you sign a contract with the owner, he/she becomes your “huisbaas”: ‘house owner’ (literally ‘boss’).

As many of us have experienced, in order to have a good and working relationship with your landlord, you will need to demonstrate sufficient negotiation skills and be capable of exercising the right amount of diplomatic pressure that will avoid him getting annoyed, but will finally have him repair your window!!

When people have a landlady you will sometimes hear “huisbazin”, but in most cases “huisbaas” is understood to mean both.

Examples:
– “Mijn huisbaas klaagt altijd tegen mij over geluidsoverlast, maar ik zweer het je, het is de onderbuurvrouw die al die herrie maakt!” 
(“My landlord always complains to me about noise, but I swear, it’s the neighbour below who’s making all the noise!” Note that “onderbuurvrouw” is the “female neighbour living in the apartment below yours”. The word “overlast” is generally used for “inconvenience, nuisance, trouble”.)

– “Ik ga morgen het huurcontract tekenen met de huisbaas. Het leek me wel een aardige kerel, maar ja, dat zijn ze altijd in het begin.” 
(“Tomorrow I’ll sign the rental agreement with the landlord. He seemed like a nice guy, but you know, they always do in the beginning.”)

– “Marc heeft nog steeds zijn borg niet teruggekregen van zijn vorige huisbaas. Een schande, maar ja, wat doe je eraan?” 
(“Marc still has not received his deposit back from his previous landlord. A disgrace, but hey, what are you going to do about it?”)

– “Ik mag van mijn huisbaas geen huisdieren hebben, maar ik doe het stiekem lekker toch!” 
(“My landlord does not allow me to have pets, but I’m doing it secretly anyway, ha!”)

– “Mijn huisbaas zou dit weekend het raam komen maken, maar zoals te doen gebruikelijk is, gebeurt er weer helemaal niks tenzij ik hem continu achter de broek aan zit!”
(“My landlord was supposed to come over and repair the window this weekend, but as is usual, nothing happens at all unless I keep chasing him!”)

Related words:
– Baas: boss [noun] [de baas, de bazen].
– Huis: house [noun] [het huis, de huizen].
– Huurhuis: rented house, house you rent [noun] [het huurhuis, de huurhuizen].

Example:
– “Ik wil graag een huis kopen, maar nu de eisen voor een hypotheek zijn verzwaard, wordt het waarschijnlijk toch weer een huurhuis. En dan zit ik weer opgescheept met een huisbaas!”
(“I would like to buy a house, but now that the requirements for (getting) a mortgage have been increased, it will probably be a rented house again. And then I’m stuck with a landlord again!”)

– Huren: to rent [verb] [huurde, gehuurd].
– Verhuren: to let, to rent [verb] [verhuurde, verhuurd].
– Borg: deposit [noun] [de borg, de borgen].
– Conflict: conflict [noun] [het conflict, de conflicten].
– (Huur)contract: contract, (rental) agreement [noun] [het contract, de contracten].

Ziekenhuis

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hospital Click to listen
Ziekenhuis
[noun]
[het zie-ken-huis, de zie-ken-hui-zen]

“Ziekenhuis” is composed of “ziek” and “huis“, which respectively translate to “sick/ill” and”house”. Hence, a “ziekenhuis” is literally a house for the sick: a hospital.

Examples:
– “Marc gaat vanmiddag naar het ziekenhuis om zijn liesbreuk te laten onderzoeken.” 
(“This afternoon, Marc will go to the hospital to have his inguinal hernia examined.”)

– “Als je schaamluis hebt, hoef je niet naar het ziekenhuis.” 
(“If you have crabs, you don’t need to go to the hospital.”)

– “Bedankt dat je me naar het ziekenhuis wilde brengen.” – “Graag gedaan.” 
(“Thanks for bringing me to the hospital.” – “You’re welcome.”)

Expressions:
– “Iemand het ziekenhuis in slaan”: to beat somebody up so bad, he has to go to the hospital.

Related words:
– Arts: doctor [noun] [de arts, de artsen].
– Dokter: doctor [noun] [de dokter, de dokters].
– E.H.B.O (Eerste Hulp Bij Ongelukken) / Eerste Hulp: lit.: first aid (in case of accidents), E.R.
– Huis: house, home [noun] [het huis, de huizen].

Example:
– “Je hebt een prachtig huis, Frank, maar ik wil hier niet slapen, ik ga naar huis.”
(“You have a lovely house, Frank, but I don’t want to spend the night here, I’m going home.” Lit.: “…I don’t want to sleep here…”)

– Ziek: sick, ill [adjective].

Example:
– “Frank heeft zich vandaag ziek gemeld vanwege een zware verkoudheid.”
(“Frank has called in sick today due to a severe cold.”)

Huis

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house [noun] [het huis, de huizen]

Houses in the Netherlands, of which there is great shortage, come in different styles. If one is lucky, one lives in a "herenhuis" – an old multi-storey house – or in a "grachtenpand" – a very big house at a canal -, but more common would be a "rijtjeshuis" – one of the many identical houses in a row.

Examples:
1. "Pannenkoekenhuis": pan cake house/restaurant. Only in this case it is common to use "huis" instead of "restaurant".

2. "Ik ga naar huis."
("I am going home.")

3. "Heb jij een koophuis of een huurhuis?"
("Do you have your own house or a rented house?")

Related words:
1. "Thuis": at home.

Example:
"Hoe laat ben jij thuis?"
("At what time will you be home?")

2. "Dakloos": homeless (literally: roofless).
3. "Makelaar": real estate agent, broker.

Extra:
For an overview of all "pannenkoekenhuizen" in the Netherlands, go to
http://pannenkoekenhuis.startpagina.nl