de of het dakraam?
het dakraam
roof window
noun · /ˈdɑkraːm/
It is “het dakraam”. The plural is “de dakramen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: dakraam
Forms
- Article
- het dakraam
- Plural
- de dakramen
- Diminutive
- het dakraampje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Er zit een dakraam op zolder.
There is a roof window in the attic.
Ik open het dakraam voor frisse lucht.
I open the roof window for fresh air.
Het dakraam is erg vies.
The roof window is very dirty.
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 dakraam” rather than as “dakraam” 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.