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The Netherlands has won the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 after Duncan Laurence and his song Arcade got 492 points between the professional juries and the public vote in the Grand final in Tel Aviv, Israel. The Netherlands last won the competition in 1975 (Eurovision, 2019). As of writing several Dutch cities have already offered to host the event in 2020 including The Hague, Rotterdam, Masstricht and Zwolle.

Below is the official music video of Duncan’s performance of Arcade (Eurovision Song Contest, 2019).

Today we are going to look at some basic phrases in Dutch that may come in useful on holidays or if you just want to see what the language is like.

Just remember that while most Dutch people can speak English not everyone can and this can be the case for people of any age or background.

Some basic words and phrases to get you started:

Dutch	Phonetics	English
hallo		Hello
tot ziens	tot zeens	See you later
dag	daKH	Goodbye / Day as in day of the week
ja	ya	Yes
nee	nay	No
goedemorgen	KHooyuh-morKHuh	Good morning
goedenavond	KHooyuh-ahvont	Good evening
goedenacht	KHooyuh-naKHt	Good night
ik wil graag	ik vil KHrahKH	I would like …
alstublieft	alstoobleeft	Please (Formal)
alstjeblieft	alstyuhbleeft	Please (Informal)
ja, graag	ya KHrahKH	yes, please
dank u wel	dank oo vel	Thank You (Formal)
dankjewel	dank yuh vel	Thank You (Informal)
bedankt		Thanks
pardon		excuse me
hoe gaat het met u?	hoo KHaht uht met oo	How are you?
uitstekend, dank u	owtstaykent, dank oo	Fine, thanks
spreekt u Engels?	spraykt oo engels	Do you speak English?
Adapted from Rough Guides Dutch Phrasebook by Lexus (2011)

Today (27th of April 2019) is King’s Day in the Netherlands (or Koningsdag in Dutch), a day similar to Saint Patrick’s Day in Ireland. The day is a celebration of the Dutch monarchy and involves Dutch people of all ages wearing orange and partying. King’s Day falls on the birthday of the current monarch, Willem-Alexander for example the previous monarch, Queen Beatrix, held Queen’s Day on the 30th of April every year.

As part of the celebration the royal family travels to a city or town to celebrate the day there, this year they traveled to Amersfoort. Such a visit from the royal family involves them shaking hands and talking with members of the public and local celebrities putting on performances for them as well as the wider public; the day is finished off with a speech by the King and the Dutch national anthem “Het Wilhelmus”.

For those who can’t attend the main event, parties are held in the other cities with shops selling orange coloured outfits, food and other orange themed gear for the day. The major television networks televise the main event as well as live stream it on their websites making it easier to see the celebrations.