de of het breekijzer?
het breekijzer
crowbar
noun · /ˈbreːkˌɛi̯.zər/
It is “het breekijzer”. The plural is “de breekijzers”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: breekijzer
Forms
- Article
- het breekijzer
- Plural
- de breekijzers
- Diminutive
- het breekijzertje
- Also means
- fit
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij zocht het breekijzer in de schuur.
He looked for the crowbar in the shed.
Het breekijzer lag onder een stapel hout.
The crowbar lay under a pile of wood.
Pak het breekijzer, dan kunnen we beginnen.
Grab the crowbar, then we can start.
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 breekijzer” rather than as “breekijzer” 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.