de of het biljet?
het biljet
banknote
noun · /bɪlˈjɛt/
It is “het biljet”. The plural is “de biljetten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: biljet
Forms
- Article
- het biljet
- Plural
- de biljetten
- Diminutive
- het biljetje
- Also means
- note, ticket
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Dit is een nieuw biljet van twintig euro.
This is a new twenty-euro note.
Hij gaf mij het biljet terug.
He gave me the note back.
Ik heb nog drie biljetten in mijn portemonnee.
I still have three notes in my wallet.
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 biljet” rather than as “biljet” 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.