During one of my online Dutch lessons, a student said this:
- Het was een bezige week (= it was a busy week).
It’s a literal translation from English into Dutch. Due to the close relationship between the two languages, it’s a good tactic. However, in this case, it isn’t.
So I corrected my student:
- Het was een drukke week.
But I couldn’t tell why. Yes, language teachers do not know everything. So I did some research and found interesting forum conversations on an amazing website. And here’s how it is:
Bezig is used for living things doing an activity. The result is that the living thing can’t do something else:
- Jan, kan je me helpen? (= Jan, can you help me?)
- Nee, ik ben bezig. (= No, I’m busy.)
So a week can’t be ‘bezig’. Because it’s not a living thing. Also, it’s not doing an activity. And that is why it’s a drukke week. Let’s do some exercises:
Fill in: druk/bezig (solution below)
- Ben je met de afwas … ?
- Het plein is … .
- Jan is altijd zo’n … mens.
- Op het werk is het altijd … .
- Hij is … . Dus vraag het aan Sara.
(afwas = dishes, zo’n = such a)
Mind as well that you can use ‘druk bezig‘ as in very busy. Again, this is only for living things doing an activity.
Druk can also mean pressure. For example luchtdruk (= air pressure) and in stressful situations. And ‘bezet‘ means occupied. As in what you have to reply when you’re in the bathroom.
Fun fact: a busy bee is an expression also used in Dutch: een bezige bij. It’s a living thing and doing an activity.
Solutions:
Bezig – druk – drukke – druk – bezig.
