What does “zich voordoen als” mean in Dutch?

Inbreker doet zich voor als huiseigenaar bij politie

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A2 Dutch listening practice · Dutch from the Netherlands · Picked for people who know a little

💡 Did you know?
zich voordoen als
Dutch verb for posing as someone else
“to pose as,” to pretend to be someone you’re not

A hidden-camera prank shows a burglar caught red-handed inside someone else’s house. When police officers ring the bell after an alarm alert, the burglar opens the door and calmly answers as if he were the homeowner, right down to reciting an alarm code. That’s zich voordoen als: to pose as, to pass yourself off as someone else entirely, not just tell one small lie.

The construction breaks into zich (oneself) + voordoen (to present, put forward) + als (as): literally “to present oneself as.” It differs from a plain lie (liegen) by specifically naming the fake identity: a con artist can zich voordoen als monteur (pose as a repairman), or, as in this sting, as the rightful owner of a house he’s actually robbing.

How common are the words?

How common are the words in this A2 Dutch listening practice video?

87.9%
of words are in the top 2,000 most common Dutch words
Most of the words in this video are common Dutch words.

How common in written Dutch

81.3%
Top 1,000
87.9%
Top 2,000
98.9%
Top 5,000

How common in spoken Dutch

87.9%
Top 1,000
93.7%
Top 2,000
100%
Top 5,000
👄 Words for talking
This video uses words people often say in Dutch.

Harder words in this video

These words are harder than A2. Here is what they mean.

afging
1×
Not in top 5,000
alarmsysteem
1×
Not in top 5,000
alarm system
lichtknop
1×
Not in top 5,000
light switch
goedenavond
1×
Not in top 5,000People say this a lot
good evening
boef
1×
Not in top 5,000
thief (slang)

Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-NL 2014 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.

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