de of het boothuis?
het boothuis
boathouse
noun · /ˈboːt.ɦœy̯s/
It is “het boothuis”. The plural is “de boothuizen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: boothuis
Forms
- Article
- het boothuis
- Plural
- de boothuizen
- Diminutive
- het boothuisje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het boothuis staat aan het meer.
The boathouse is by the lake.
Is het boothuis al leeg?
Is the boathouse empty yet?
Ons oude boothuis heeft een nieuw dak nodig.
Our old boathouse needs a new roof.
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 boothuis” rather than as “boothuis” 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.