Annotated Text: Signs and Notices (A2)

Public signs are the first "real" Dutch you read in the Netherlands — on toilet doors, shop windows, train carriages, building entrances. They look simple, but they run on a very particular clipped grammar: words get dropped, infinitives stand in for whole sentences, and one little word — te — does heavy lifting. Once you can decode a Dutch sign, you can read the country. This page collects the signs you'll actually see, original and unedited, and takes the grammar apart so you understand why they're worded the way they are.

The signs

Here is a board of the most common notices, exactly as they appear in Dutch public space:

Verboden te roken — No smoking Verboden toegang — No entry / No trespassing Gesloten — Closed Geopend — Open Uitgang — Exit Ingang — Entrance (Nooduitgang = Emergency exit) Trekken — Pull Duwen — Push Let op! — Watch out! / Attention! Niet storen — Do not disturb Buiten gebruik — Out of order Pas op voor de hond — Beware of the dog

We'll group these by the grammar pattern behind them.

Pattern 1: "Verboden te + infinitive"

The single most important sign frame is verboden te + infinitive — "forbidden to (do)." Verboden is the past participle of verbieden ("to forbid"), used here as an adjective meaning "forbidden / prohibited." It triggers te before the infinitive, exactly the way English "forbidden" triggers "to": verboden *te roken = "forbidden *to smoke."

The full, unclipped sentence behind the sign is Het is verboden te roken ("It is forbidden to smoke"). The sign simply drops the Het is — see Pattern 4 below. What you must not drop is the te: a Dutch infinitive after verboden always needs it.

"Verboden toegang" — the exception that proves the rule

Notice that Verboden toegang ("No entry") has no te. That's because toegang is a noun ("access, entry"), not a verb — so there's nothing to put te in front of. The pattern is verboden + noun = "X prohibited": verboden toegang = "entry prohibited." Compare it directly with the verb version:

So the rule splits cleanly: verb after verboden → add te (verboden te roken); noun after verboden → no te (verboden toegang). This is the trap English speakers fall into most.

Pattern 2: Bare imperatives

Some signs are straight commands — the imperative, which in Dutch is just the verb stem with no subject. Trekken/Duwen on doors are technically infinitives used as instructions (sign style again), but the true imperatives are short and direct.

Note that Let op and Pas op are separable verbs (opletten, oppassen) in the imperative: the particle op lands at the end. You'll meet these as full commands constantly, not just on signs — a parent shouts Pas op! the same way a sign prints it.

Pattern 3: "Niet + infinitive" for prohibitions

A softer prohibition uses niet + infinitive: an instruction telling you what not to do. The infinitive here works like a polite, impersonal command — common on hotel doors and equipment.

The difference between Verboden te roken and Niet roken is register and force: verboden is the (formal), legalistic "this is prohibited"; niet roken is a plainer "don't smoke here." Both are correct; you'll see both.

Pattern 4: Sign ellipsis — the dropped words

The defining feature of sign Dutch is ellipsis: leaving out the words you can infer. Gesloten ("Closed") is really De winkel is gesloten ("The shop is closed") with the subject and verb chopped off. Buiten gebruik ("Out of order") is Dit is buiten gebruik. Signs keep only the information-carrying word and bin the rest.

This is why signs feel so unlike sentences: Dutch normally insists on a subject and a finite verb, but notices license dropping them. Uitgang and Ingang are bare nouns with no de; Gesloten is a lone participle; Verboden te roken is a headless prohibition. The reader supplies the missing frame.

Trekken / Duwen — the door pair you cannot mix up

On Dutch doors, Trekken means Pull and Duwen means Push. English speakers reliably confuse these because they look unrelated to the English words. A memory hook: duwen and English "do" both push forward; trekken relates to "track / traction," which pulls. Both are infinitives used as instructions.

Get these backwards and you'll yank a push-door — a daily comedy for newcomers. Burn in: Trekken = pull toward, Duwen = push (away).

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Verboden te + infinitive ("forbidden to do") is the core prohibition frame — the te is mandatory before a verb: verboden te roken, te parkeren, te zwemmen.
• After verboden, a noun takes no te: verboden toegang, verboden voor onbevoegden.
• Signs run on ellipsis — Gesloten, Buiten gebruik, and bare nouns like Uitgang/Ingang drop the article and verb you'd need in a full sentence.
• Let op and Pas op are separable-verb imperatives (opletten, oppassen) with the particle at the end.
• On doors: Trekken = pull, Duwen = push — memorise the pair so you don't fight the wrong door.