Hello, I don’t clearly understand from the word “neemt” dictionary translation what the husband do with a tiles in this phrase and why this word used in a cases like this. Could you please help. Thank you.
I’m not a native Dutch speaker, but I’ll take a stab at this, since no one else has…
The verb is ‘afnemen’ (hij NEEMT de tegels AF), which in this case means ‘ontdoen van wat er op ligt.’ He’s presumably wiping down [cleaning] the (tiled) walls, namely where there’s splatter or grease around the stove and cook area, probably with a damp cloth or sponge with soap, degreaser, polish or some other cleanser. When you dust furniture, clear away and/or wipe down a table, wipe down a counter or wall using a damp cloth, or otherwise wash a surface down with soap or cleanser, whether it’s in the kitchen, shower, bathroom or WC, neem jij de oppervlakten af. Je neemt de oppervlakten af. Afnemen is what is known as a separable verb. Separable verbs are ubiquitous in Dutch. Schoonmaken is also a separable verb in this lesson.
https://nl.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Categorie:Scheidbaar_werkwoord_in_het_Nederlands&from=Ad
Here is an example taken from Twitter:
Ik neem de tafel af, keer m’n kont en de kat ligt er op te rollen.
I clear away the table, no more than turn around and the cat is lying there rolling on it.
(I think in this case ‘afnemen’ is a more generic word. It can mean, at minimum, that you have taken all the dishes off the table, not necessarily cleaned the surface with a cloth, but I suppose it could mean both. The closest translation I can come up with in English is to ‘clear off’ or ‘clear away’ the table, as compared to ‘wipe down’ or something similar that indicates cleaning the surface of the table. I will be interested to hear a Dutch explanation of this word in this context.)
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