de of het email?
het email
enamel
noun · /eːˈmɑi̯/
It is “het email”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: email
Forms
- Article
- het email
- Also means
- tincture
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Het email van de pan is beschadigd.
The enamel of the pan is damaged.
Deze ketel heeft een dikke laag email.
This kettle has a thick layer of enamel.
Maak het email voorzichtig schoon.
Clean the enamel carefully.
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 email” rather than as “email” 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.