Giving specific restaurant feedback | Learn Dutch in English

Sentence explanations

1. De maaltijd was lekker, maar de timing tussen de gangen voelde ongelijkmatig aan.

   The meal was enjoyable, but the timing between courses felt uneven.

   maaltijd

   meal

   lekker

   pleasant; tasty

   timing

   timing

   gangen

   courses

   ongelijkmatig

   uneven

   voelde … aan

   felt; seemed

   More detail

   maaltijd means “meal” here. Its base form is maaltijd; the plural is maaltijden. With de, the phrase de maaltijd refers to the meal as a definite noun. Example: De maaltijd begint om zes uur. — “The meal starts at six o’clock.” lekker describes the meal positively. In this sentence, the fixed translation supports the sense “enjoyable,” while lekker can also mean “tasty” when describing food. Here it is a predicate adjective, so it has no separate ending. Example: De soep is lekker. — “The soup is tasty.” timing is a Dutch loanword meaning the timing or pacing of events. It is a noun here, and de timing is the definite form. Example: De timing van de pauzes was goed. — “The timing of the breaks was good.” gangen means “courses” in this context, as in successive parts of a meal. Its singular is gang and its plural is gangen; the plural is formed with -en, while the spelling of the stem’s vowel remains a. The phrase de gangen is definite plural. Example: De gangen kwamen snel na elkaar. — “The courses came one after another.” ongelijkmatig means “uneven” or “irregular” here. It describes the perceived spacing or rhythm between the courses. The same form can also be used adverbially without a separate ending: Het tempo veranderde ongelijkmatig. — “The pace changed unevenly.” Its opposite in this context is gelijkmatig, meaning “even” or “regular.” voelde and aan belong together around the clause’s description: the separable verb is aanvoelen, meaning “to feel” or “to seem.” voelde is the simple past form for a singular subject; with a plural subject, the past form is voelden. In de timing ... voelde ongelijkmatig aan, the timing was perceived as uneven, rather than the sentence asserting an objective measurement. Example: De planning voelde vreemd aan. — “The planning felt strange.” The construction tussen de gangen means “between the courses”: tussen introduces the interval or relation, and de gangen identifies the courses involved. Together, de timing tussen de gangen means “the timing between courses.” The whole utterance combines De maaltijd was lekker (“The meal was enjoyable”) with maar (“but”), then says that de timing tussen de gangen voelde ongelijkmatig aan (“the timing between courses felt uneven”). The past form was sets the meal’s positive quality in the past, while voelde ... aan presents the unevenness as the speaker’s perception.

2. Het spijt me dat het tempo de maaltijd in de weg stond.

   I'm sorry the pacing got in the way of the meal.

   Het spijt me

   I'm sorry

   tempo

   pacing; tempo

   maaltijd

   meal

   in de weg stond

   got in the way

   More detail

   Het spijt me is a fixed Dutch way to say “I’m sorry.” In this expression, het is a fixed impersonal subject and me refers to the person expressing the apology; the expression is not a general model for translating every English use of “sorry.” A useful tense contrast is Het spijt me (“I’m sorry”) versus Het speet me (“I was sorry” / “I regretted it”). tempo means “pace” or “tempo.” Here it refers to the pacing of the meal, as supported by the fixed translation and the preceding context about timing between courses. It is a neuter noun, so its definite article is het: het tempo. Example: Het tempo ligt te hoog. — “The pace is too fast.” maaltijd means “meal.” It is a common-gender noun and therefore takes de: de maaltijd. Example: De maaltijd was lekker. — “The meal was tasty.” in de weg stond belongs to the reusable construction iets/iemand in de weg staan: “to stand in the way of something/someone” or “to obstruct something/someone.” stond is the singular past-tense form of staan (“to stand”): staan → staat (present singular) → stond (past singular) → gestaan (past participle). In this sentence, stond is singular because its subject is het tempo, not because of maaltijd. In the subordinate clause introduced by dat, the finite verb comes at the end: dat het tempo de maaltijd in de weg stond. Together, dat introduces the content of the apology: het tempo is the subject, de maaltijd is what was obstructed, and in de weg stond supplies the obstruction pattern. Thus the whole utterance means, “I’m sorry that the pacing got in the way of the meal.”

3. Ik begrijp dat het druk was.

   I understand it was busy.

   Ik

   I

   begrijp

   understand

   dat

   that

   het druk

   busy

   was

   was

   More detail

   Ik means “I.” It is the first-person singular subject pronoun. The matching present-tense form is ik begrijp; for “you understand,” use jij begrijpt, with the extra -t on the verb. begrijp is the present-tense first-person singular form of begrijpen, “to understand.” In this sentence it means that the speaker understands or recognizes the situation. Example: Ik begrijp de vraag. — “I understand the question.” dat introduces the content of what is understood: “that …”. It starts a subordinate clause. In Dutch, this kind of clause commonly places its finite verb at the end, as in dat het druk was. het druk describes a situation as busy or crowded. Here het is an impersonal subject, not a specifically identified person or object; the phrase means “it was busy.” druk is an adjective. A useful contrast is rustig — “quiet” or “calm”: Het is rustig. — “It is quiet.” was is the past-tense form of zijn, “to be,” used here with the impersonal het. The present counterpart is is: Het is druk. — “It is busy.” Thus het druk was places the busy situation in the past. Together, Ik begrijp (“I understand”) and the content clause dat het druk was (“that it was busy”) produce the complete meaning: “I understand it was busy.”

4. Maar sommige gangen kwamen te snel na elkaar en andere kwamen juist te laat.

   But a few courses arrived too close together and others lagged.

   Maar

   but

   sommige

   some

   gangen

   courses

   kwamen

   arrived

   te snel

   too quickly

   na elkaar

   one after another

   andere

   others

   juist

   instead

   te laat

   too late

   More detail

   Maar introduces a contrast: “but.” It connects this complaint with the preceding acknowledgement without changing the facts that follow. Sommige means “some” when referring to an unspecified part of a plural group. It is used here with plural gangen; compare andere later in the sentence for a different part of that group. Example: Sommige gasten bleven lang. — “Some guests stayed for a long time.” Gangen is the plural of gang, which in this context means a course of a meal. The same Dutch noun can have other meanings in other contexts, such as a corridor or a manner of proceeding, so the meal context determines the meaning here. Example: De eerste gang was warm. — “The first course was warm.” Kwamen is the past-tense plural form of komen (“to come”). With meal courses, the fixed translation gives the intended sense “arrived” or “were served.” Dutch uses the plural form because sommige gangen is plural. Example: De gasten kwamen vroeg. — “The guests came early.” Te snel means “too quickly.” Te marks an excessive degree: the speed was greater than appropriate for the intended timing. Here it describes how closely the courses followed one another, not merely that they arrived quickly. The pattern te + adjective/adverb is reusable: te groot means “too big,” while te langzaam means “too slowly.” Na elkaar means “one after another” or “in succession.” It describes the ordering of events, so te snel na elkaar means that the courses arrived in succession with insufficient spacing between them. Example: De berichten kwamen snel na elkaar. — “The messages arrived one after another quickly.” Andere means “others” here: other members of the same plural group, namely other courses. It is the plural form used independently, without repeating the noun. Example: Sommige stoelen zijn bezet, andere zijn vrij. — “Some chairs are occupied; others are free.” Juist has several uses in Dutch. In this sentence it marks the contrast with the first group, approximately “instead” or “by contrast”: the other courses had the opposite timing problem. Its exact force comes from the opposition between te snel and te laat, not from andere alone. Te laat means “too late.” As in te snel, te expresses an unsuitable or excessive degree; laat concerns lateness in time. The contrast te snel versus te laat is useful for describing timing problems: something can happen too soon, or it can happen after the appropriate time. Together, sommige gangen kwamen te snel na elkaar says that some meal courses arrived too close together. En andere kwamen juist te laat adds that other courses, in contrast, arrived too late. Thus the complete utterance means: “But a few courses arrived too close together and others lagged.”

5. Dat had beter voor de hele tafel afgestemd moeten worden.

   That should have been coordinated better across the table.

   Dat

   that

   had

   had

   beter

   better

   hele

   whole

   tafel

   table

   afgestemd

   coordinated

   moeten worden

   should be

   More detail

   Dat is the subject pronoun meaning “that” here. Its neuter singular form does not by itself identify a specific noun; the fixed translation supports the intended reference as “that” being discussed. Dutch demonstratives include dit/dat for singular neuter nouns, while deze/die are used with common-gender nouns and plural nouns. had is a past form of hebben and functions here as an auxiliary. In this construction, it places the obligation in a past situation viewed retrospectively: had ... afgestemd moeten worden corresponds to “should have been coordinated.” It is not the main lexical meaning “possessed” here. beter is the comparative form of goed (“good”): goed → beter → best (“best”). Here it means that the coordination should have been done more effectively, not simply that it was good. Example: Dit kan beter. — “This can be better.” hele is the inflected form of heel (“whole” or “entire”) used before the singular noun tafel. In de hele tafel, it gives the scope “the entire table.” The adjective is the word carrying this form; tafel is not its base form. tafel means “table.” It is a singular noun and appears with the definite article de here. In this context, de hele tafel refers to the table as a whole, so voor de hele tafel means “for the whole table,” matching the intended sense “across the table.” afgestemd is the past participle of afstemmen, meaning “to coordinate,” “to align,” or “to tune” depending on context. Here it means “coordinated.” With worden, it forms a passive construction: something is coordinated, rather than someone being named as the coordinator. Example: De planning is goed afgestemd. — “The planning is well coordinated.” moeten worden is the passive infinitive pattern with the modal verb moeten (“must” or “should”) and worden (“become,” used here to form the passive). In the full past construction, Dutch places the past auxiliary had earlier and uses the order had ... afgestemd moeten worden: the past participle afgestemd comes before the modal infinitive moeten, and worden follows it. Together with beter, this expresses that the coordination was expected or required to have been better. Example: Dat had eerder gemeld moeten worden. — “That should have been reported earlier.” Putting the parts together, Dat is the thing under discussion; had places the situation in the past; beter evaluates the quality of the action; voor de hele tafel gives the scope; and afgestemd moeten worden expresses passive coordination that ought to have happened. The whole utterance means: “That should have been coordinated better across the table.”

6. Ik vraag niet om iets extra's.

   I'm not looking for anything extra.

   Ik

   I

   vraag

   ask

   niet

   not

   om

   for

   iets

   something

   extra's

   something extra

   More detail

   Ik is the first-person singular pronoun meaning “I.” It is the subject of vraag. Dutch also uses jij/je for an informal singular “you” and u for a formal or polite “you”; the verb form agrees with the subject. vraag is the first-person singular present form of vragen, “to ask.” A useful pattern is ik vraag ... (“I ask ...”). Example: Ik vraag om hulp. — “I ask for help.” niet is the ordinary Dutch negation word “not.” Here it negates the request expressed by vraag ... om. om means “for” in the construction vragen om + iets, “to ask for something.” In this sentence, niet comes between the verb and om, but the relevant pattern is still ik vraag niet om ... — “I am not asking for ...”. iets is an indefinite pronoun meaning “something.” With negation, niet om iets ... is naturally rendered in English as “not for anything ...”; iets itself is not a special negative form. Example: iets nieuws means “something new.” extra's is the substantivized form of extra used after iets, meaning “something extra” here. The -s is added to the adjective in this use, and the apostrophe appears because extra ends in a vowel. Here it does not mean several extras. Together, ik vraag niet om means “I am not asking for,” and iets extra's supplies what is not being requested. The complete utterance therefore means “I'm not looking for anything extra.” The Dutch present tense presents this as the speaker’s current request or position.

7. Ik wilde alleen dat u wist wat er was gebeurd.

   I just wanted you to know what happened.

   Ik wilde

   I wanted

   alleen

   just; only

   u

   you (formal)

   wist

   knew

   wat

   what

   was gebeurd

   happened

   More detail

   Ik wilde is the past form of willen (“to want”): ik wil = “I want,” ik wilde = “I wanted.” In this sentence it presents the speaker’s intention or wish in the past. Example: Ik wilde helpen. — “I wanted to help.” alleen means “just” or “only” here. It limits the speaker’s intention: the speaker wanted this particular thing, namely that the listener know what happened. Its position after wilde is natural in this sentence. u is the formal second-person pronoun, “you.” Dutch uses u for both formal singular and formal plural; its form does not show which one is intended. In this sentence it is the person whom the speaker wanted to know the information. wist is the past form of weten, “to know”: ik weet = “I know,” ik wist = “I knew.” The form wist is used with ik, and it also occurs with other singular subjects, such as hij wist (“he knew”). Example: Ik wist het niet. — “I did not know it.” wat introduces the content of knowing: “what.” The clause wat er was gebeurd identifies the information that the speaker wanted u to know. Here wat is not a question asking the listener to choose an object; it introduces an embedded question/content clause. was gebeurd is the past perfect of gebeuren, “to happen”: gebeuren → gebeurd (past participle), with was as the past form of the auxiliary zijn. Together, was gebeurd means “had happened.” Dutch places the auxiliary and participle at the end of this subordinate clause. Example: Ik wist wat er was gebeurd. — “I knew what had happened.” The sentence builds as Ik wilde + alleen + u + wist + wat er was gebeurd: “I wanted only/just [that] you knew what had happened.” In natural English, this is “I just wanted you to know what happened.” The past forms frame both the speaker’s earlier intention (wilde) and the event as already completed (was gebeurd).

8. Ik waardeer de details, want ze wijzen op een serviceprobleem dat we kunnen oplossen.

   I appreciate the detail, because it points to a service issue we can fix.

   Ik

   I

   waardeer

   appreciate

   details

   details

   want

   because

   ze

   they

   wijzen op

   point to

   serviceprobleem

   service issue

   dat

   that

   we

   we

   kunnen

   can

   oplossen

   fix

   More detail

   Ik is the first-person singular pronoun, “I.” It is the form used when the speaker refers to themself. Compare we later in the sentence for a group that includes the speaker. waardeer means “appreciate” here. It is the present-tense first-person singular form of waarderen: ik waardeer, “I appreciate.” In the present tense, this form uses the verb stem with ik; the observed form does not have a separate first-person singular ending added to that stem. Example: Ik waardeer uw hulp. — “I appreciate your help.” details is the plural noun “details.” Dutch commonly uses detail for one detail and details for more than one. Here, the plural pronoun and verb later in the clause support the reading that these details point to the issue. want links the main statement to its reason and can usually be translated as “because” or “for.” It is a coordinating conjunction, so the clause after it keeps ordinary main-clause word order: ze wijzen ..., with the subject before the finite verb. ze is the third-person plural pronoun “they” in this sentence. It refers to the plural details in the stated meaning. The form ze can also be an unstressed variant of “she,” but that is not the supported reading here because the verb is plural and the target sentence presents the details as the thing pointing to the issue. wijzen op means “point to” or “indicate.” The verb wijzen is in the present tense, third-person plural form matching ze; op is part of this verb-plus-preposition construction. wijzen op is different from simply wijzen, which can mean “point” in a more literal or directional use. Example: De cijfers wijzen op een fout. — “The figures point to an error.” serviceprobleem is a compound noun meaning “service issue” or “service problem.” Its parts are written as one Dutch word. The singular is het serviceprobleem; the plural is de serviceproblemen. The compound identifies the type of problem rather than asserting that every service is problematic. dat introduces the relative clause describing serviceprobleem: “that.” Dutch uses dat here with a singular neuter antecedent such as het probleem. This relative pronoun is not the same as the demonstrative use in every context; here it connects the noun to the information that follows. we is the first-person plural pronoun, “we.” It includes the speaker and at least one other participant in the action expressed by the following clause. Unlike ik, it selects a plural verb form. kunnen means “can” here and is the first-person plural present form of kunnen. With a second verb, it expresses ability or feasibility: we kunnen oplossen, “we can fix.” The modal verb carries the finite position, while the other verb remains an infinitive. oplossen is the infinitive “fix” or “solve.” In we kunnen oplossen, it appears at the end of the relative clause because Dutch places the infinitive after the modal in this pattern. Example: We kunnen het probleem oplossen. — “We can solve the problem.” Together, Ik waardeer de details means “I appreciate the details.” want ze wijzen op een serviceprobleem gives the reason: the details point to a service issue. Finally, dat we kunnen oplossen specifies that this is an issue that we can fix. The complete meaning is: “I appreciate the details, because they point to a service issue we can fix.”

9. Het personeel bleef de hele tijd beleefd, dus het lijkt meer iets operationeels dan iets persoonlijks.

   The staff were polite throughout, so it seems more operational than personal.

   Het personeel

   the staff

   bleef

   remained; stayed

   de hele tijd

   the whole time

   beleefd

   polite

   dus

   so

   het lijkt

   it seems

   meer … dan

   more ... than

   iets operationeels

   something operational

   iets persoonlijks

   something personal

   More detail

   Het personeel means “the staff.” Personeel is a collective noun referring to the employees as a staff group; in this sentence it takes the singular verb form bleef. The definite article het belongs with this neuter noun. Example: Het personeel is vriendelijk. — “The staff is friendly.” bleef is the past-tense singular form of blijven (“to remain; to stay”). Here it means that the staff continued to be in a particular state: bleef beleefd = “remained polite.” The useful pattern is blijven + adjective, meaning “continue to be + adjective.” Example: Zij bleef rustig. — “She remained calm.” de hele tijd means “the whole time” or “throughout.” hele is the inflected form of heel before this noun phrase. Together with bleef beleefd, it makes the duration explicit: the politeness continued throughout the relevant period. beleefd means “polite.” As an adjective after the linking verb blijven, it describes the state of the staff and does not receive an attributive ending here. Example: De medewerker bleef beleefd. — “The employee remained polite.” dus connects the first clause to a conclusion: “so” or “therefore.” It introduces the speaker’s inference from the staff’s continued politeness. het lijkt means “it seems.” lijkt is the present-tense singular form of lijken, with the impersonal pronoun het as its subject. The form lijken can also be used with a specific subject, as in Dat lijkt moeilijk — “That seems difficult.” In this sentence, het does not identify a particular person; it presents the following assessment impersonally. meer ... dan is the Dutch comparative pattern “more ... than.” meer is the comparative form corresponding to veel (“much/many”); the opposite comparison is commonly expressed with minder (“less/fewer”). Here the comparison is between two classifications: operational and personal. iets operationeels means “something operational.” iets is an indefinite pronoun meaning “something.” After iets, an adjective used to describe the unspecified thing takes the ending -s: operationeel becomes operationeels. The adjective operationeel means related to operation or service functioning, and it is not a form derived from iets. iets persoonlijks means “something personal.” As with operationeels, the adjective persoonlijk receives -s after iets: persoonlijk → persoonlijks. Here persoonlijk means related to a person’s individual feelings or personal treatment, rather than to an operational matter. Example: Ik zoek iets persoonlijks. — “I’m looking for something personal.” Putting the parts together: Het personeel bleef de hele tijd beleefd says that the staff continued to be polite throughout the relevant period. dus het lijkt meer iets operationeels dan iets persoonlijks draws the conclusion that the matter seems more operational than personal. The complete meaning is: “The staff were polite throughout, so it seems more operational than personal.”

10. Ik zal dat onderscheid aan de manager doorgeven.

    I'll pass that distinction on to the manager.

    Ik zal

    I will

    dat

    that

    onderscheid

    distinction

    manager

    manager

    doorgeven

    pass on

    More detail

    Ik zal combines the subject Ik (“I”) with zal, the present-tense form of zullen. Here zal is an auxiliary expressing a future intention or commitment: “I will.” In a Dutch main clause, the conjugated auxiliary is in the regular second position, while the other verb can move to the end. dat means “that” here and functions as a demonstrative determiner before onderscheid. It is the form used with a singular neuter noun such as het onderscheid; compare dit onderscheid for “this distinction.” In this sentence, dat points to a specific distinction already identifiable in the situation. onderscheid means “distinction” or “difference.” Its definite form is het onderscheid; the indefinite form is een onderscheid. The related verb onderscheiden means “to distinguish,” but it is a different word and should not be substituted for the noun here. manager means “manager.” In the sentence, aan de manager is the recipient phrase: the distinction will be passed on to the manager. The noun commonly occurs with the article de, as in de manager and een manager. doorgeven means “to pass on” or “to relay.” It is a separable verb, built from door and geven, but the infinitive is written as one word. In this clause it remains in the infinitive because zal carries the tense: Ik zal het bericht doorgeven means “I will pass on the message.” The pattern is Ik zal ... aan de manager doorgeven: “I will pass ... on to the manager.” Dutch places the conjugated zal near the beginning and the infinitive doorgeven at the end. Together, dat onderscheid is the thing being passed on, and aan de manager identifies its recipient. The complete meaning is: “I’ll pass that distinction on to the manager.”