Breakdown of De controle van de bagage is erg streng.
zijn
to be
erg
very / really
streng
strict
van
from (possession, starting point) / made of
Questions & Answers about De controle van de bagage is erg streng.
Does controle always mean "check" instead of "being in control"?
Usually, yes! In Dutch, controle is a classic "false friend." It most commonly means an inspection, check, or verification (like a ticket or luggage check). If you mean "control" in the sense of having power or command over a situation, Dutch uses other words like macht or de leiding.
Could you just combine the first part into one word: bagagecontrole?
Yes, absolutely! Dutch loves to glue nouns together to make compound words. Saying De bagagecontrole is erg streng is very natural and means the exact same thing as De controle van de bagage.
I learned that erg means "terrible" or "bad." Why does it mean "very" here?
When used as an adjective on its own, erg does mean "bad" or "terrible" (like Dat is erg! - That is terrible!). But when placed right before another adjective like streng, it acts as a degree word meaning "very." You could easily swap it with heel and say heel streng.
How do you pronounce the 'g's in bagage?
Because bagage is a loanword from French, it doesn't use the typical scraping Dutch 'g'. Instead, both 'g's are pronounced like the 's' in the English word "measure" or the 'g' in "mirage" (a soft "zh" sound).