to clear/brighten up 
[verb]
[op-kla-ren, klaar-de op, op-ge-klaard]
Today is Koninginnedag and that is one of the days in the year of which you can be sure there will be no DWOTD… Well, as the weather is not cooperating much, I haven’t gone ‘downtown’ yet 🙂 However, it seems the sky is clearing up! "Opklaren" can also be used figuratively.
Examples:
– "Het leek vandaag een grauwe dag te worden, maar nu klaart het gelukkig op."
("It looked like today was going to be a gray day, but fortunately it’s brightening up now.")
– "Gaat het nog regenen denk je?" – "Volgens mij niet, de lucht is opgeklaard!"
("Do you think it will rain?" – "I don’t think so, the sky has cleared up!")
– "En, hoe is het nu?" – "Nou, de situatie leek uitzichtloos, maar nu lijkt het op te klaren!"
("So, how are things now?" -"Well, the situation seemed hopeless, but now it looks like it’s brightening up!" ‘Uitzichtloos’ translates as something like "without a positive outlook at all"; you can also use ‘hopeloos’.)
Expressions:
– "Na regen komt zonneschijn": after a storm comes a calm. Lit.: "after rain comes sunshine".
Related words:
–
Betrekken: to become overcast, to cloud over [verb] [betrok, betrokken].
Example:
– "De lucht was opgeklaard, en nu betrekt hij weer. Wat hebben we daar nu aan?!"
("The sky cleared up, and now it’s clouding over again. What good is that to us?!")
– Onbewolkt: cloudless, clear [adjective].
– Zonnig: sunny [adjective].
“Well, as the weather is not cooperating much, I haven’t gone ‘downtown’ yet :-)”
Um, err, I assume you’re not using the English-language euphemism there? 🙂
(Sorry, I had to say it!)
Hi Chris – well, you never know what can happen on Queen’s day! 🙂
Can you also use opklaren to talk about a disease. In English you might say, “I had a bit of a rash, but it’s clearing up now” – what Dutch verb would that be?
Happy Konninginnedag, by the way.
Touché!!!
🙂 🙂 🙂
I hope you’re all enjoying the day.
@Alastair – you can’t use ‘opklaren’ in this case, it is limited to the examples I gave above, but a good verb here, I think, would be ‘wegtrekken’:
“Ik had wat uitslag, maar gelukkig trekt het nu weg”.
You can also use for pain: “de pijn trekt gelukkig weg”.
“Wegtrekken” is like “moving away, clearing out”.
Groetjes, Sander
Dank je wel, Sander.
Hi,
I would like to add, that opklaren can also refer to someone mood. More specifically, “his/her face lights up from that great news” would be translated to “zijn/haar gezicht klaart (helemaal [added for emphasis]) op van dat goede nieuws”