de of het drumstel?
het drumstel
drum set
noun · /ˈdrʏm.stɛl/
It is “het drumstel”. The plural is “de drumstellen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: drumstel
Forms
- Article
- het drumstel
- Plural
- de drumstellen
- Diminutive
- het drumstelletje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het drumstel staat in de garage.
The drum set is in the garage.
Mijn broer wil graag een drumstel.
My brother would like a drum set.
Hij oefent elke dag op zijn drumstel.
He practices on his drum set every day.
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 drumstel” rather than as “drumstel” 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.