de of het armenhuis?
het armenhuis
poorhouse
noun · /ˈɑr.mə(n)ˌɦœy̯s/
It is “het armenhuis”. The plural is “de armenhuizen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: armenhuis
Forms
- Article
- het armenhuis
- Plural
- de armenhuizen
- Diminutive
- het armenhuisje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het armenhuis stond aan de rand van het dorp.
The poorhouse stood at the edge of the village.
Vroeger moesten arme mensen naar het armenhuis.
In the past, poor people had to go to the poorhouse.
Het armenhuis is nu een museum.
The poorhouse is now a museum.
Why this article
No rule predicts it
This one has to be memorised. No spelling pattern marks it as neuter, which is exactly why it is worth learning as “het armenhuis” rather than as “armenhuis” on its own.
The rules that do work
- • Every plural takes “de”, without exception.
- • Every diminutive ending in -je takes “het”, without exception.
- • Nouns ending in -ing, -heid, -tie, -teit or -schap take “de”.
- • Roughly two thirds of all nouns take “de”, so it is the better guess.
Other nouns whose article has to be memorised
Stop guessing de and het
Woordje has a practice mode for exactly this: it shows a noun and asks for the article, and keeps asking until you stop getting it wrong.