de of het fototoestel?
het fototoestel
still camera
noun · /ˈfoː.toː.tuˌstɛl/
It is “het fototoestel”. The plural is “de fototoestellen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: fototoestel
Forms
- Article
- het fototoestel
- Plural
- de fototoestellen
- Diminutive
- het fototoestelletje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het fototoestel ligt op de tafel.
The camera is on the table.
Zij kocht een nieuw fototoestel.
She bought a new camera.
Vergeet je fototoestel niet mee te nemen!
Don't forget to bring your camera!
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 fototoestel” rather than as “fototoestel” 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.