What do Dutch kids call their teachers — “meester” and “juf”?
Emotioneel afscheid van de meester op de basisschool
A1 Dutch listening practice · Dutch · Picked for people who know a little
In Dutch primary schools, kids don’t address teachers by surname. A male teacher is meester (“Mr. Teacher”), a female teacher is juf (“Miss Teacher”), and that’s the title. Meester Tim, juf Sanne, or just meester and juf on their own. The system runs from groep 1 through groep 8, switching only at middle school, where students suddenly start using meneer and mevrouw with surnames. Many Dutch adults still remember their meester or juf by first name decades later.
In this clip, a child is leaving primary school and refuses to accept it: “Ik wil geen nieuwe meester.” The repeated “doei” at the door says the rest.
How common are the words?
How common are the words in this A1 Dutch listening practice video?
How common in written Dutch
How common in spoken Dutch
Harder words in this video
These words are harder than A1. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-NL 2014 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In Dutch primary-school content and meester-themed YouTube (Het Klokhuis, Meester Tim, Schooltv)
- ▸In Dutch sitcoms and comedies about school life (Toren C, SpangaS, De Luizenmoeder)
- ▸In Dutch parenting writing about primary school (Kek Mama, Ouders van Nu, J/M Ouders)
- ▸In Dutch teacher-shortage news coverage (NOS, NRC, De Volkskrant)