

It is spoken by 98% of the population and is the language of business, education, and entertainment. There is one official language in the Netherlands, Dutch. The Many Spoken Languages In The Netherlands Affects The Use Of Oma And Opa With the Netherlands being home to so many bilingual speakers and the influence of other languages in the country being so strong, this makes for an environment where grandparent names can take other forms. The plural is oma’s and the diminutive is omaatje. The Dutch name given to a grandmother is grootmoeder and oma in the familiar. To use the diminutive form it is said as opaatje. In Dutch, opa is said by grandchildren to their grandfather or grootvader. With Dutch and German both being West Germanic languages, would this same meaning apply to grandparents in the Netherlands as well? There are similarities in the modern forms of each of these languages, but there are many differences as well.

Yet, there is also another way some may use oma and opa in a negative way. These names can be personal to either or both. In even some cases, there are specific nicknames that individual grandparents went by for a good portion of their lives that their grandkids picked up on and began using. Others have cultural or religious connotations for grandparents. Many families see it as cute and go with it for many years. Some use unintelligible words that they came up with as toddlers. This is true of many kids, but of course not all. The plural is die Omas and the diminutive is das Omi. The German name for grandmother is die Großmutter and Oma in the familiar.

When talking about multiple grandpas it is die Opas. In German, der Opa is a familiar name given to a grandfather or der Großvater. So, what do children in Germany call their grandparents? As with most kids around the world they don’t call them by their proper names, and usually don’t simply use the equivalent of grandmother or grandfather. For many little ones in Germany some of their favorite people besides their parents are their grandparents.
