Example: Hij moest de kastanjes uit het vuur halen voor zijn vriend.
Definition
"De kastanjes uit het vuur halen" means to do a difficult or risky task on someone else's behalf, often to help or protect them from trouble, similar to 'pulling chestnuts out of the fire' for someone else.
Translations
to do the dirty work
sacar las castañas del fuego
treure les castanyes del foc
tirer les marrons du feu
die Kastanien aus dem Feuer holen
togliere le castagne dal fuoco
tirar as castanhas do fogo
Etymology
The phrase "de kastanjes uit het vuur halen" comes from an old fable where a monkey tricks a cat into pulling hot chestnuts from the fire, burning its paw while the monkey eats the nuts. The phrase now means doing a risky job for someone else's benefit.
Learn to use this expression actively
"De kastanjes uit het vuur halen" appears in the Vocaplus list "Dutch - General - Idioms and Proverbs - (C2) - set 1", containing 105 commonly used expressions.
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to do the dirty work