to tease, pester, badger, annoy
[verb]
[jen-nen, jen-de, ge-jend]
The alphabetical overview tells me that we have not covered many words starting with ‘J’. So, to improve the situation, today’s word is ‘jennen’. The verb ‘jennen’ in general is less serious than ‘pesten’ which can take the meaning of ‘to bully’. Also, ‘jennen’ is used when you are teasing somebody with the objective to annoy, as opposed to ‘pesten’ which you can also use to tease somebody about say a physical characteristic. A synonym of ‘jennen’ is ‘plagen’ however I have the feeling that the ‘annoyance factor’ is bigger for ‘jennen’.
Examples:
– “Waarom hebben ze de linkerrijstrook afgesloten? Er is niets aan de hand! Het is gewoon om ons te jennen zeg ik je!”
(“Why did they close off the left lane? There is no reason at all! They do it merely to annoy us I say!”)
– “Hou op met je zus te jennen en help je moeder met de afwas!”
(“Stop badgering your sister and help your mother wash up / do the dishes.”)
– “Het kind van de buren is zo irritant, het zit constant te jennen en kan niet normaal met anderen spelen.”
(“The neighbour’s child is so annoying, it’s constantly teasing and is unable to play with others.”)
Related words:
– Plagen: to pester, annoy, torment, bully [verb] [plaagde, geplaagd].
– Treiteren: to torment, provoke [verb] [treiterde, getreiterd].
Example:
– “Ze hebben die arme man net zo lang getreiterd totdat hij is verhuisd.”
(“They have kept tormenting that poor man until he moved.”)
– Pesten: to pester, badger [verb] [pestte, gepest].
– Lastigvallen: to bother, harass [verb] [viel lastig, lastiggevallen].