Around the house in Dutch

Home vocabulary is where diminutives run wild — a tafeltje, a kopje, a bankje — and every diminutive is a het-word, so this topic is good training for the article system. Below are rooms, furniture and everyday objects with articles and plurals, plus the renting terms you'll meet when finding a place in the Netherlands.

Rooms and parts of the house

Compounds ending in -kamer are all de-words (de slaapkamer, de badkamer). Watch het balkon and het toilet, which are het.

Dutch	Article	Plural	English
huis	het	huizen	house
woning	de	woningen	dwelling / home
appartement	het	appartementen	apartment
kamer	de	kamers	room
woonkamer	de	woonkamers	living room
slaapkamer	de	slaapkamers	bedroom
keuken	de	keukens	kitchen
badkamer	de	badkamers	bathroom
toilet	het	toiletten	toilet
gang	de	gangen	hallway
trap	de	trappen	stairs
zolder	de	zolders	attic
kelder	de	kelders	basement / cellar
garage	de	garages	garage
tuin	de	tuinen	garden
balkon	het	balkons	balcony

Structure: walls, doors and windows

Dutch	Article	Plural	English
muur	de	muren	wall
vloer	de	vloeren	floor
plafond	het	plafonds	ceiling
deur	de	deuren	door
raam	het	ramen	window
dak	het	daken	roof

Furniture

Almost all furniture is de, with het bed and het bureau the main het-words. Note the false friend de bank, which means both “sofa” and “bank”.

Dutch	Article	Plural	English
tafel	de	tafels	table
stoel	de	stoelen	chair
bank	de	banken	sofa (NL)
bed	het	bedden	bed
kast	de	kasten	cupboard / wardrobe
boekenkast	de	boekenkasten	bookcase
bureau	het	bureaus	desk
lamp	de	lampen	lamp
spiegel	de	spiegels	mirror
gordijn	het	gordijnen	curtain
tapijt	het	tapijten	carpet / rug
kussen	het	kussens	cushion / pillow
deken	de	dekens	blanket
dekbed	het	dekbedden	duvet

Kitchen and appliances

Dutch	Article	Plural	English
koelkast	de	koelkasten	fridge
oven	de	ovens	oven
fornuis	het	fornuizen	stove / cooker
magnetron	de	magnetrons	microwave
vaatwasser	de	vaatwassers	dishwasher
wasmachine	de	wasmachines	washing machine
gootsteen	de	gootstenen	kitchen sink
kraan	de	kranen	tap
bord	het	borden	plate
glas	het	glazen	glass
kopje	het	kopjes	cup
vork	de	vorken	fork
mes	het	messen	knife
lepel	de	lepels	spoon
pan	de	pannen	pan / pot

A renting mini-glossary

Renting in the Netherlands has its own vocabulary, and getting it wrong costs money. The crucial distinction is how a place is let: kaal (bare — no flooring or curtains), gestoffeerd (with flooring and curtains but no furniture) or gemeubileerd (furnished).

Dutch	English
de huur	the rent
huren / verhuren	to rent / to let out
de huurder / de verhuurder	tenant / landlord
de borg (de waarborgsom)	deposit
het huurcontract	lease / tenancy agreement
inclusief / exclusief	including / excluding (gas, water, electricity)
de servicekosten	service charges
de makelaar	estate agent
de huurtoeslag	rent benefit (means-tested subsidy)

Gezellig: the one home word that resists translation. Gezellig covers cosy, convivial, warm and sociable all at once — a room can be gezellig, so can an evening, a café or the company of friends. Its opposite, ongezellig, is one of the more cutting things you can say about a place. It is central to how the Dutch talk about home, and you'll hear it constantly.

Belgium: a sofa is usually de zetel in Flanders (in the Netherlands de zetel is an armchair or a seat in parliament), and the living room is often just de living. Belgian rental law and its deposit rules (de huurwaarborg) differ from the Dutch system described above.

Next, kit out the home with food and kitchen vocabulary, or step outside with travel and transport. The diminutives that fill this topic are explained in Dutch diminutives.