7 things about Dutch money

Whenever you speak a new language, one thing is certain... at one point you will also have to talk about money... Here are 7 things that make money really special in Dutch :) 

1 Money is something that Dutch people have in common with Germans 
Geld  is the Dutch word for money and... it is also a German word. So now you can use this word with many more people! There is one small difference of course... Chances are high that you'll find the German pronunciation easier... Dutch people will say it with their famous harsh g 

By the way, there is another great word that is exactly the same in both Dutch and German: bier! 

2 Money has a value and is valid...
With geld you can easily create a new word: geldig...  It means valid.... Just imagine that money has a value and that it can be valid...  By the way, one nasty word that can ruin everything is ongeldig... You like to buy something and then: pincode ongeldig or: creditcard ongeldig. You can guess what it means, right? 

3 One cost does not exist in Dutch
In English you can say: the cost of living and that would be: de kosten van leven  or levenskosten. There  is one peculiar thing however....  kosten is always plural... De kost as expense does not exist.... Once again, kosten is always plural. It could be easy to remember that you always have to pay more than one Eurocent or that you'll always get new bills... Costs never stop and that is why they are always in plural!

4 What? 10 Euros?
Have you noticed that in Dutch you tend to keep Euro in singular? In shops you will always hear: 10 Euro, 25 Euro etc... When you say tien Euro's, then it means: ten whole euros! It seems that if you say Euro instead of Euro's then somehow it feels cheaper. So when you hear: twee miljoen Euro, then there is a chance that it still sounds cheap! 

5 Money does not grow on trees, but on something that is very inconvenient...
In English you say that money does not grow on trees. In Dutch we say: het geld groeit me niet op de rug... The money does not grow me on the back...  Probably it would be very inconvenient if all of a sudden money started to grow on your back... Certainly with coins... It could ruin your sleep... 

On the other hand, if again and again Dutch people are very eager to give you a back massage, then you might have to think again... They could have a good reason ;) 

6 Money is something that you give out
If you like to say: I spend money, then in Dutch you would say: ik geef geld uit... Literally it means: I give money out. 

Here is a weird thing: if you say: ik geef een boek uit, then it means that you publish a book. So... pay attention... if you see the word uitgeverij, it means publishing house. It is not a place where you spend your money...

7 You can wash money in Dutch  
In English you have money laundring and in Dutch we have a similar idea.... You wash it white... The idea is that money is black first and then it becomes white or legal.... You can say: ik was geld wit... It is easy to confuse it with whitewashing in English, so make sure that you realize that witwassen means that you turn illegal money into legal money! 

At the same time, you can also say: ik was mijn t-shirt wit...  Witwassen is multifunctional! 

What have you noticed about money in Dutch? Share your thoughts here: