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Work and office vocabulary in Dutch

Work in Dutch is het werk, a job is de baan (in Belgium usually de job), and to work is werken. One rule to learn straight away: with a profession Dutch drops the article — Ik ben leraar, not “ik ben een leraar”. This page covers professions, the people and objects of the office, workplace verbs, the language of applying for a job (de vacature, de sollicitatie, het cv) and the set formulas for work emails.

Professions

Job titles are almost all de-words. Many have a masculine and feminine form (de leraar / de lerares), though the masculine form is increasingly used as neutral.

Talking about your job

The standard question is Wat voor werk doe je? or Wat doe je voor werk? (What do you do for a living?). In the answer, no article goes before the job title after zijn or werken als — one of the classic learner mistakes.

The office

Het kantoor (office) and het bureau (desk) are the het-words to remember; the people around you are nearly all de.

The company and the working week

Workplace verbs

Some of these are separable (aannemen, thuiswerken): Ze nemen drie mensen aan (they're hiring three people).

Applying for a job

This is the vocabulary you'll meet on job boards and in HR emails. The verb is solliciteren (to apply), and a job posting is een vacature. Note that een sollicitatie is the application itself, not the interview — the interview is het sollicitatiegesprek.

Emails and meetings

Written Dutch at work is more formal than English, and it uses fixed opening and closing formulas. Getting these right signals you know the register. Use the formal u unless you're clearly on je terms — the pronoun choice is covered in Dutch pronouns.

The full business register — phone etiquette, meeting language and when Dutch offices switch to English — is in business Dutch. Worth knowing: in many Dutch and international workplaces the working language is simply English, so your Dutch effort is appreciated more than required.

Frequently asked questions

How do you say work in Dutch?

Work is het werk and to work is werken: Ik werk in Amsterdam. A specific job is de baan in the Netherlands and usually de job in Belgium.

Do you use an article with a profession in Dutch?

No. After zijn, worden or werken als the job title stands alone: Ik ben arts (I'm a doctor), Zij wordt advocaat (She's becoming a lawyer).

What does solliciteren mean?

Solliciteren means to apply for a job: Ik solliciteer naar deze vacature. The application is de sollicitatie and the interview is het sollicitatiegesprek.

What is a zzp'er?

A zzp'er is a self-employed person without staff (zelfstandige zonder personeel), the usual Dutch term for a freelancer. In Belgium you would say de zelfstandige.

What is vakantiegeld?

Vakantiegeld is the holiday allowance Dutch employees receive once a year, usually in May or June. By law it is at least 8% of your gross annual salary.

How do you end a formal email in Dutch?

The standard sign-off is Met vriendelijke groet; Hoogachtend is very formal and used in official letters.

Continue with numbers for salaries and hours, or travel vocabulary for the commute. To handle the formal address these emails require, review u versus je.