Dutch travel and transport vocabulary

The Netherlands runs on public transport and bicycles, so this is genuinely daily vocabulary, not tourist-phrasebook filler. Below are the words for getting around by train, bus and bike, plus the station announcements you'll actually hear — with articles and plurals throughout.

Modes of transport

Dutch	Article	Plural	English
trein	de	treinen	train
bus	de	bussen	bus
tram	de	trams	tram
metro	de	metro's	metro / underground
auto	de	auto's	car
fiets	de	fietsen	bicycle
brommer	de	brommers	moped
taxi	de	taxi's	taxi
vliegtuig	het	vliegtuigen	aeroplane
boot	de	boten	boat
veerboot	de	veerboten	ferry
schip	het	schepen	ship
vrachtwagen	de	vrachtwagens	lorry / truck

At the station

Het station, het perron and het spoor are all het-words — and het spoor (track) is what you listen for, since Dutch announcements give the platform by track number. To travel you buy een enkele reis (one way) or een retour (return), and you change trains with the verb overstappen.

Dutch	Article	Plural	English
station	het	stations	station
perron	het	perrons	platform
spoor	het	sporen	track / platform no.
kaartje	het	kaartjes	ticket
kaartautomaat	de	kaartautomaten	ticket machine
reiziger	de	reizigers	traveller / passenger
conducteur	de	conducteurs	conductor
dienstregeling	de	dienstregelingen	timetable
vertraging	de	vertragingen	delay
aansluiting	de	aansluitingen	connection
bestemming	de	bestemmingen	destination
halte	de	haltes	stop (bus / tram)
spits	de	—	rush hour

Paying for public transport in the Netherlands runs on the OV-chipkaart and, increasingly, contactless bank cards (branded OVpay). The system is check-in, check-out: you tap in when you board and tap out when you leave, or you're charged the full fare. The verbs are inchecken and uitchecken.

Everything on a bike

You cannot function in the Netherlands without bike vocabulary. De fiets is a whole ecosystem: dedicated paths (het fietspad), guarded parking (de fietsenstalling) and the rental bikes at every station (de OV-fiets).

Dutch	Article	Plural	English
fietspad	het	fietspaden	bike path
fietsenstalling	de	fietsenstallingen	bike parking
slot	het	sloten	lock
band	de	banden	tyre
stuur	het	sturen	handlebar
zadel	het	zadels	saddle
bel	de	bellen	bell
rem	de	remmen	brake
ketting	de	kettingen	chain
bakfiets	de	bakfietsen	cargo bike

A flat tyre is een lekke band — a phrase you will need sooner or later.

Airport and hotel

Dutch	Article	Plural	English
luchthaven	de	luchthavens	airport
vlucht	de	vluchten	flight
bagage	de	— (uncount.)	luggage
koffer	de	koffers	suitcase
paspoort	het	paspoorten	passport
instapkaart	de	instapkaarten	boarding pass
hotel	het	hotels	hotel
receptie	de	recepties	reception
reservering	de	reserveringen	reservation
overnachting	de	overnachtingen	overnight stay

Decoding a Dutch station announcement. A typical NS announcement runs: “De intercity naar Utrecht Centraal vertrekt over enkele ogenblikken van spoor 5.” — “The intercity to Utrecht Centraal departs in a few moments from track 5.” When something's wrong you'll hear “heeft een vertraging van tien minuten” (is running ten minutes late) and the stock apology “onze excuses voor het ongemak” (our apologies for the inconvenience). Wegens werkzaamheden means “due to engineering works”.

Belgium: the rail operator is the NMBS (SNCB in French), not the NS, and the travel smartcard is the MOBIB rather than the OV-chipkaart. In everyday Flemish a bike is often de velo (from French) alongside de fiets, and a lorry is de camion.

To ask the way and understand the answer — linksaf, rechtdoor, bij het stoplicht — go to asking for directions. For packing, see clothing; for booking a room and ordering on the way, food vocabulary pairs well.