de of het enkelvoud?
het enkelvoud
singular
noun · /ˈɛŋ.kəl.vɑu̯t/
It is “het enkelvoud”. The plural is “de enkelvouden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: enkelvoud
Forms
- Article
- het enkelvoud
- Plural
- de enkelvouden
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het woord 'boom' is in het enkelvoud.
The word 'tree' is in the singular.
Is 'mensen' enkelvoud of meervoud?
Is 'people' singular or plural?
Gebruik het enkelvoud voor één object.
Use the singular for one object.
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 enkelvoud” rather than as “enkelvoud” 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.