(air)plane, aircraft, aeroplane 
[noun]
[het vlieg-tuig, de vlieg-tui-gen]
Today is Dutch Word Of The Day number 747. "Vliegtuig", translated aircraft, seemed appropriate 🙂
"Vliegtuig" is composed of "vlieg" and "tuig", which respectively translate to "fly" and "gear/craft".
Examples:
– "Een Boeing 747 is een groot vliegtuig."
("A Boeing 747 is a big aeroplane.")
– "Vulkaanas kan schade veroorzaken aan de motoren van een vliegtuig."
("Volcanic ash can cause damage to the engines of an airplane.")
– "Vliegtuigen mogen niet 's nachts vliegen, dat veroozaakt te veel lawaai."
("Aircraft are not allowed to fly during the night, that causes too much noise.")
– "Vandaag in de krant: vliegtuig stort neer, 184 doden."
("Today's headline: plane crashes: 184 dead." Lit.: "Today in the newspaper…")
Expressions:
– "Hij ziet ze vliegen": he's crazy (lit.: he sees 'em fly).
Related words:
– Vleugel: wing [noun] [de vleugel, de vleugels].
– Vlucht: 1. flight [noun] [de vlucht, de vluchten]. 2. escape [noun] [de vlucht, de vluchten].
Example:
– "Vlucht KL714 heeft een vertraging van twee en een half uur." – "Dat is vervelend."
("Flight KL714 has a two and a half hour delay." – "That's annoying.")
– Vliegen: to fly [verb] [vliegen, vloog, h. gevlogen].
– Opstijgen: to ascend, to take off [verb] [opstijgen, steeg op, i. opgestegen].
– Landen: to land [verb] [landen, landde, i. geland].
– Neerstorten: to crash [verb] [neerstorten, stortte neer, i. neergestort].
– Toestel: machine [noun] [het toestel, de toestellen].
Is het “op de vlucht” of “aan de vlucht”?
– “Vliegtuigen mogen niet ‘s nachts vliegen, dat veroozaakt te veel lawaai.”
(“Aircraft are not allowed to fly during the night, that causes too much noise.”)
It is ‘veroorzaakt’! 🙂
@Diane
Het is ‘op de vlucht’, vaak gebruikt met het werkwoord ‘slaan’
diane: het is zeker niet “aan de vlucht”.
Je kunt “aan de drank zitten”: drinking (a lot of) booze
En je kunt “op de vlucht zijn”: fleeing, running away (e.g. because you’re being chased)
En je kunt “op vlucht KL714 zitten”: flying with flight KL714. Although this expression sounds weird in Dutch, because it souds a bit like you’re literally sitting on top of the airplane. “Sitting on flight KL714” sounds equally weird, for example.
The most commonly used term is “vliegen met vlucht KL714”: flying with flight KL714. Some other possibilities: “ik kom aan met vlucht KL714”, “ik reis met KL714”, or “mijn vluchtnummer is KL714” 🙂
Marc, can you sometime explain all the various uses of the word toestel? Aside from machine, it seems to be an all-purpose word that can refer to aircraft, an electronic device, a kitchen/household appliance or a tv set. Een fietspomp is referred to as ‘een klein toestel’, as opposed to, say, an airplane. In engineering terms: an apparatus. And I suppose there is also een toesteltje, such as a camera or a cell phone. What do you call a guitar capo? Can the instrument panel on an airplane also be referred to as een toestel? That could be confusing!
@ Bruce
Indeed, the general translation of “toestel” is apparatus or device. “Toestel” can be used for a number of things, but not everything. I don’t think there’s a rule for it, I guess you just have to memorize them 🙁
Here’s a few “toestellen” I can think of:
– “toestel”: airplane
– “televisietoestel”: television set
– “telefoontoestel: phone
– “fototoestel”: camera
– “gymtoestel”: a gymnastics apparatus
The dimunitive of “toestel” is “toestelletje”.
BUT…a “fietspomp”, a “guitar capo” or “airplane instrument panel” are never referred to as “toestellen”…
Hope this helps, Marc
Marc,
Never say never…
I have seen an electric/electronic “openbare fietspomp” referred to as “een klein toestel” in a West-Vlaanderen news article:
“De openbare fietspomp is een klein toestel dat aan de muur hangt. Ze kan zowel voor gewone fietsen als voor mountainbikes worden gebruikt. De pomp kost 3.000 euro.”
kw.rnews.be/nl/regio/wvl/
(search term: openbare fietspomp) 04 mei 2010.
Of course, in this sense, it is obviously more of an “apparatus” than your ordinary, everyday fietspomp.
Ironically, the first time I came across this word, it was used to refer to… a capo! (But I am absolutely convinced it was not a proper Nederlands or Belgisch web site). So you can see my confusion.
I’ll just stick with toestel for airplane, and calling my RAZR and other electronic devices toestelletjes. Funny that a small airplane can also be called “een klein toestel.”
What a strange word. I wonder what the etymology is?
Thanks for your explanation!
Bruce