de of het atelier?
het atelier
studio
noun · /aː.təlˈjeː/
It is “het atelier”. The plural is “de ateliers”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: atelier
Forms
- Article
- het atelier
- Plural
- de ateliers
- Diminutive
- het ateliertje
- Also means
- workshop, production of clothing, engineering
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het atelier is erg licht.
The workshop is very light.
De kunstenaar werkt in zijn atelier.
The artist works in his workshop.
Wanneer is het atelier open?
When is the workshop open?
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 atelier” rather than as “atelier” 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.