Dansen aan zee
BLØF
How to study this song
Learning “Dansen aan zee” means 54 entries at B1+ — 20 Dutch words, 7 adjectives and 27 verb forms, every one taken from what the song actually says. Start with the glossary: zee, schip and strand come up again and again, so they are the ones to know first. This one leans on its verbs: 27 distinct forms against 7 adjectives, so conjugation is where the effort goes. At this level part of the list will already be familiar; the rest is what closes the gap.
The words of this song, in several languages
Every word below is taken from this song and translated by us. Nothing here is the lyric itself — these are the individual words you need in order to follow it.
Vocabulary
| NL | EN | ES | IT | FR | PT | DE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| zee | sea | mar | mare | mer | mar | Meer |
| schip | ship | barco | nave | navire | navio | Schiff |
| strand | beach | playa | spiaggia | plage | praia | Strand |
This card holds 17 more words. You meet them when you play the song.
Adjectives
What this song teaches you
Level · B1+
- Vocabulary words
- 20
- Adjectives
- 7
- Word combos
- 4
- Expressions
- 10
- Verb forms
- 27
- Quiz questions
- 35
More Dutch songs at this level
Background
About the song
BLØF are from Zeeland, the Dutch province that is mostly water, and «Dansen aan zee» is a farewell danced on the shoreline. It was the eighth single of their career, taken from the album «Watermakers», and it counts its way out: one step for her tears, two for his, three for the horizon they both disappear into. The imagery is deliberately plain — a ship, a coat, letters written in sand that the tide will take — and the song trusts the plainness to carry the weight.
Did you know?
Two of its key words are compounds built on the spot, the way Dutch prefers: a farewell waltz and a waterline, each made by welding two nouns together.
Charts & streaming
Released in April 2000 on EMI, from the album «Watermakers». It reached number 9 in the Dutch Top 40, entering the chart on 22 April 2000.