to be on fire, to burn [verb] [fikte, gefikt]

"Fikken" is the informal synonym for "branden" ("to burn") in its translation of "to be on fire". Both "brand" and "fik" mean "fire" (as in "a fire"), but again "fik" would be informal. The noun for the phenomenon "fire" is "vuur". A related verb is "affikken": to burn down/out. They say that Dutch and German are similar, but in this case it is far from true (inside joke for our German readers).

There are a few expressions with the noun "fik" and not the verb, but I have included them below anyway.

Examples:
– "Zo, dat fikt goed!" 
("My, that burns well!")

– "Marcs auto is gisteren bijna afgefikt." 
("Marc’s car almost burnt down yesterday.")

– "De ene houtsoort fikt beter dan de andere." 
("The one type of wood burns better than the other.")

Expressions:
– "De fik erin!": burn it (down)!
– "Een fikkie stoken": to start a controlled fire, to set something on fire. This is not your arsonist type of fire but usually kids setting a few things (twigs, garbage etc.) on fire.

Example:
– "Laten we een fikkie gaan stoken!" – "Nee man, dat is veel te gevaarlijk!"
("Let’s set something on fire!" – "No man, that is way too dangerous!")

– "In de fik staan": to be on fire. Usually for things, not persons. The formal alternative is "in brand staan".

Related words:
– Branden: [verb] [brandde, gebrand].
– Brand/fik: fire [noun] [de brand/fik, de branden/fikken].
– Vuur: fire [noun] [het vuur, de vuren].
– Lucifer: match [noun] [de lucifer, de lucifers]. You can also use "Lucifer" for Lucifer the devil.
– Afbranden/fikken: to burn down/out [verb] [brandde/fikte af, afgebrand/fikt].