What does “sportschool” mean in Dutch?
Eenvoudig Nederlands verhaaltje over man, vrouw en café
A1 Dutch listening practice · Dutch · Picked for people who know a little
In Dutch, a gym is a sportschool — literally “sport school.” It’s a clear example of how Dutch compounds work: the last word names the kind of thing (a school/place), and the first word narrows it down (for sport). It doesn’t mean a school that teaches sport as a subject — it’s where you go to work out. Once you see the pattern, related places name themselves.
A man heads to the sportschool after lunch: “Na de lunch gaat de man naar de sportschool. Hij vindt de sportschool leuk.” The compounding pattern runs throughout Dutch: a “rijschool” is a driving school (from “rijden,” to drive), a “zwemschool” a swimming school, a “muziekschool” a music school. The last word tells you what kind of thing it is; the first narrows it down. “Sport” itself arrived in Dutch from English in the nineteenth century and was adopted wholesale.