Essential Dutch phrases

Your citizen service number, issued when the gemeente registers you. Salary, banking, insurance and tax all hang off it — nothing works before it exists.

Registering your address with the city, legally within five days of arrival. In Rotterdam this is done at the Rotterdam International Center, not a normal counter.

The national digital login. Tax, allowances, health insurers, pension and the municipality all sit behind it. The activation code arrives by post, so you need a working address.

A housing permit. In five Rotterdam neighbourhoods and on a list of named Delfshaven streets you legally need one before moving into a cheaper rental, and if you have lived in the region under six years it is granted only on qualifying income.

The compulsory own-risk excess on your health insurance — €385 in 2026 — which you pay out of pocket before the insurer pays anything except GP visits.

Water board tax, billed separately from city tax. Renters pay it too, because much of Rotterdam sits below sea level and someone has to run the pumps.

A cup of coffee, in unmistakably Rotterdam slang. Offered at any opportunity, and refusing it is mildly odd.

'No words but deeds' — the city motto, the Feyenoord anthem, and a fairly accurate description of how Rotterdam handles meetings.

'The Tub' — Feyenoord's stadium in Rotterdam-Zuid. Football here is not a hobby, and match days reshape the metro.

Literally 'hair salon' — shawarma, chips, cheese and salad in a foil tray, invented in Delfshaven in 2003 for a local barber. Rotterdam's actual contribution to world cuisine.

One number for police, fire and ambulance, free from any phone. Operators speak English. 0900-8844 is the non-urgent police line.