Annoying and Continuous Actions
In Dutch, you can turn a verb into a noun to describe an ongoing, repetitive, or irritating action by adding the prefix ge- to the verb stem.
These nouns often translate to English words ending in "-ing" (like snoring or whining). They are always neuter, meaning they take the definite article het.
Sleep Disturbances and Habits
For example, from snurken (to snore), the stem is snurk, giving us het gesnurk (the snoring).
| I often wake up because of your snoring. | Ik word vaak wakker van jouw gesnurk. |
| I do not sleep because of the snoring. | Ik slaap niet vanwege het gesnurk. |
This pattern is perfect for complaining about bad habits. From zeuren (to whine), we get het gezeur:
| I do not listen to that whining. | Ik luister niet naar dat gezeur. |
Apply standard spelling rules when finding the stem. For klagen (to complain), the stem is klaag, resulting in het geklaag:
| He was tired. Nevertheless, the complaining continued. | Hij was moe. Desondanks ging het geklaag door. |
Bothersome Noises
You can use this same structure to complain about all sorts of disruptive noises. From blaffen (to bark), we get het geblaf:
| The neighbor is angry because of the barking. | De buurman is kwaad vanwege het geblaf. |
From schreeuwen (to shout), we get het geschreeuw:
| The shouting irritated her. | Het geschreeuw irriteerde haar. |
From stampen (to stomp) and huilen (to cry), we get het gestamp and het gehuil:
| That stomping on the stairs is annoying. | Dat gestamp op de trap is vervelend. |
| I stayed awake because the crying continued. | Ik ben wakker gebleven omdat het gehuil doorging. |
If people are talking too much during a movie, you can derive het geklets (the chattering) from kletsen (to chatter):
| Their chattering in the cinema was very impolite. | Hun geklets in de bioscoop was heel onbeleefd. |
