Home Page

Dutch

Good Dutch words


Translating "alstublieft"

I get a lot of advice from Dutch people about the simplicity of translating the great word "
alstublieft."

I know what alstublieft means. That is, I know how it translates into English — "s'il vous plait."

But just to know that alstublieft means "if it [may] please you" in old Dutch is not to understand what it really means.

Alstublieft is a social custom, as well as a word.