False friends – 14: braaf vs brave

Transcript of the video lesson – braaf vs brave:

Hi, welcome to learndutch.org’s false friends.
Words from different languages that sound or look the same, but with a different meaning. Today the Dutch word: “braaf”, and the english “brave”. Adjectives that look the same, but mean something different. They are false friends!

“brave” in English, is what we call in Dutch “heldhaftig”. And remember him, he appeared already in a previous false friend lesson when discussing the difference between draak and drake.

Now, “heldhaftig” is used in the sense of heroic (indeed if you kill a dragon); other words, in normal life, are “moedig” and “dapper”. Attention: dapper is a false friend in itself, and we’re going to tackle that in a next lesson.

Now, “braaf” in Dutch. That is what we call obedient. We use it mostly with children and dogs. “Bave hond” = good dog. “Brave meid” = good girl.

“Braaf” is the opposite of “stout”, which means “naughty. And now I am going to make it complicated. Because “stout” can also mean “brave”.

So, to make it clear I made this picture.

“Stout” can mean “brave”
“Stout” can mean “naughty” anad then it is the opposite of “braaf”.
“braaf” and “brave are false friends”

But I see you thinking. Well we have the dark beer, which is called “stout” in English. That must be a false friend then !

Nope, it’s not, because “stout” has a third meaning in Dutch. We also call the beer like this… it’s just that we don’t drink it too much… we prefer the normal yellow beer.

de heldhaftige ridder had een brave hond
the brave knight had a good dog

So that’s it. The Dutch “braaf” and and the English “brave” are false friends!
And make sure you know the word stout !

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See you there!