Aside from patriotism and all that, King’s Day is a nationwide excuse for binge drinking while wearing orange.
For one day a year, the streets are one big happy, tipsy, orange-loving crowd. 🧡
Now, whether you are here to study or are a long-time expat, you sure are going to need some Dutch to survive the day.
READ MORE | 8 things you should know about King’s Day in the Netherlands
So, here are six essential phrases you need for King’s Day. Master them to blend into the orangey euphoria.
1. Koning
Yes, koning (king), and not koningin (queen).
Unless you were born before 1900, nobody recalls the last time the Netherlands was ruled by a male monarch.
The predecessors of King Willem-Alexander were his mother Beatrix, his grandmother Juliana, and his great-grandmother Wilhelmina, who were all lady-kings, so to speak.
As such, it has been ingrained in Dutch culture to refer to royal matters in a feminine tense.
I, for one, continuously catch myself saying koninginnedag instead of koningsdag. The latter actually sounds weird and off-the-wall to me.
So the first order of business for any wo/man wanting to enjoy the annual orange parade is to get the gender right. Hail to the King, baby! 👑
Bonus phrase: Lang leve de koning! Hoera, hoera, hoera! (Long live the King, hurrah 3x)
2. Vrijmarkt
Vrijmarkt (“free market” or “flea market“), also known as that one time a year when Dutchies go nuts and try to occupy a square meter of the street three days in advance so they can sell their junk.
Yes, it’s a tax-free, no-punches-barred, fastest-first slop where each Dutchman will try to solve the alchemical riddle of transforming worthless trash into gold.
But never let it be said that the Dutch are a greedy and money-obsessed bunch. It’s all about getting out in the streets and showing people your stuff and your child’s lack of violin-playing skills.
King’s Day joke starts at 2:09. 👇
3. Bezet!
Normally, this word (which literally translates to “occupied”) stays nicely in the closet until we remember the German occupation of the Netherlands on Liberation Day at the beginning of May.
However, in previous years, people have taken the vrijmarkt a step too far.
Masses of desperate flea marketeers rudely wrote “BEZET” at certain spots on the pavement where they wanted their little one-day operation to be. Unfortunately, that also brought up nasty memories of WWII. Not good, people!
Luckily, the Dutch government issued a verdict that this ain’t right. Not only because of the war, but also because chalk can be hard to remove! As if the inevitable rain won’t wash it away.
The common consensus on this is that you can just occupy someone else’s “BEZET” spot.
Bonus phrase: “Wie het eerst komt, wie het eerst maalt” (First come, first serve — the typical Dutch reply to the “BEZET” people. If it is really occupied, why weren’t they sleeping there days in advance?)
4. Herstelbiertje
Herstelbiertje (“recovery beer”) is also known as the balansbiertje (“balance beer” or “equilibrium beer” if you’re a pretentious douchebag). It’s the Dutch phrase for that beer you take first thing in the morning as a means of getting over your King’s Day hangover.
We all know there’s no cure like another dose of poison. 😅
READ MORE | Dutch Quirk #99: Drink beer like it’s a national sport
Koningsdag inevitably means drinking way too much, and unless your liver is the size of a city bus, you’re gonna hate yourself the next morning. And then you’ll drink another beer, thinking it’ll make things better, because of the placebo effect or whatever.
5. “Wat kost dat?“
For supposedly thrifty and cheap people, both our beers and our junk at the annual flea market are surprisingly expensive.
Luckily, our Dutch directness comes to our aid, as it is completely normal to ask “Wat kost dat?”, meaning “What does that cost?”
Bonus phrase: “Mag het ietsje minder zijn?” (Can it be somewhat less?) Although the Dutch are a trading people by tradition, it is not customary to negotiate a price in a store or for a beer. At the flea market, it is a normal thing. Go nuts!
6. Volksfeest
Volksfeest (national feast) is probably the best way to summarise Koningsdag. While this word has so much overlap with the overused word gezellig, there’s a difference.
Whereas gezellig can refer to just about any kind of social event, Volksfeest is all about the people.
READ MORE | Dutch Quirk #126: Play weird street games on King’s Day
It talks about the fact that something is being said and done together, as a collective. 🍻
Koningsdag is like that weird alternative festival where everyone just goes to the park to look at all the other people who have gone to the park because someone said there was going to be an event.
Now that you’ve learned all these essential Dutch phrases, how about you test your King’s Day knowledge? Here are seven things you need to know about King’s Day. Proost! (Cheers!)
How do you celebrate King’s Day in the Netherlands? Tell us in the comments below!
Hahaha good one. Should have included ‘hondenweer’ as well! Gonna need that one Monday. InDutch looks interesting, gonna check that out
Actually turned out to be great weather!
What? No mention of “peperkoekhappen”?
Koekhappen I know, peperkoekhappen not so sure
“the alchemical riddle of transforming worthless trash into gold.”
😀
Excellent article Abu! InDutch looks interesting…
Thanks! InDutch is indeed an interesthing way to learn Dutch 🙂