What does 'hartstikke' mean in Dutch?
Stemmen in kasteel Duivenvoorde in Voorschoten
A2 Dutch listening practice · Dutch · Picked for people who know a little
Hartstikke is one of Dutch’s most-loved intensifiers, somewhere between English really, totally, and completely. It comes from older Dutch hart steken (heart-stuck, dead-stuck), and the speaker uses it the way English speakers might say dead pretty or dead cold. Hartstikke leuk (super fun), hartstikke mooi (gorgeous), hartstikke koud (freezing), hartstikke dood (stone-cold dead).
In this clip, a voter at Kasteel Duivenvoorde, an 800-year-old Dutch castle being used as a polling station, says: « Het weer is hartstikke mooi. Het zonnetje schijnt erbij » (the weather is hartstikke beautiful, the sun is shining on top). She also calls it « de mooiste stemlocatie van Nederland » (the most beautiful polling place in the Netherlands).
How common are the words?
How common are the words in this A2 Dutch listening practice video?
How common in written Dutch
How common in spoken Dutch
Harder words in this video
These words are harder than A2. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-NL 2014 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In Dutch family chat, KLM in-flight greetings ('hartstikke bedankt'), and customer-service sign-offs where hartstikke softens politeness into warmth
- ▸On Dutch TV and radio across NPO 1, RTL Boulevard, and BNR Nieuwsradio when hosts dial up the enthusiasm
- ▸In Dutch tourism copy on Holland.com and NS train-station ads where hartstikke leuk and hartstikke gezellig anchor every weekend-break campaign
- ▸In Dutch sports commentary on NOS Sport and Ziggo Sport when commentators describe Ajax, Feyenoord, or PSV wins as hartstikke verdiend