What is a “vakantievriendje” in Dutch?
Kenzie droomt van een vakantievriendje
A2 Dutch listening practice · Dutch · Picked for people who know a little
A vakantievriendje is a vacation boyfriend, with the diminutive -tje doing the emotional work: this isn’t your vriend (boyfriend), it’s your vriendje (little/casual boyfriend), and the vakantie prefix means it ends when the holiday ends. The implied contract is a fun, low-stakes summer fling, the kind that happens at a Spanish beach resort where Dutch teens crowd in by the busload. Female version: vakantievriendinnetje. Plural disasters: vakantievriendjes. The word is unembarrassed and slightly older-sister.
In this NPO Zapp clip, twelve-year-old Kenzie sighs at the camera: “Ik had zo graag een vakantievriendje willen krijgen.” (“I really wanted a vacation boyfriend.”) Standard summer disappointment, articulated.
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Harder words in this video
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Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-NL 2014 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In Dutch teen magazines and YA stories (Tina, Hitkrant, LINDA.meiden)
- ▸In Dutch summer reality TV (*Beachclub Riva*, Spuiten en Slikken summer specials)
- ▸In Dutch reportage on teens at Spanish costas (RTL Boulevard, AD)
- ▸In Dutch parenting columns about adolescent summers (J/M Ouders, Ouders.nl, De Volkskrant)