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Dating and relationships

vreemdgaan: How do you say 'to cheat on someone' in Dutch?

How to pronounce vreemdgaan

Vreemdgaan is to cheat on your partner. Literally it's 'to go strange' or 'to go foreign', which is oddly accurate. It's a separable verb: hij gaat vreemd = he's cheating, ze is vreemdgegaan = she cheated. The person it happened with comes after met: vreemdgaan met een collega.

The partner is bedrogen (deceived), and the cheater is een vreemdganger, a word that mostly exists in gossip. For the accusation rather than the fact: Ga je vreemd? The whole first season of Groepsapp is about that question, so you'll see it a lot.

Examples

  • Hij gaat vreemd. Ik weet het zeker.

    He's cheating. I'm sure of it.

  • Ze is vreemdgegaan met zijn beste vriend.

    She cheated on him with his best friend.

  • Vreemdgaan is voor mij einde verhaal.

    Cheating is a deal-breaker for me.

All Dutch words →