de of het gordijn?
het gordijn
curtain
noun · /ɣɔrˈdɛi̯n/
It is “het gordijn”. The plural is “de gordijnen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: gordijn
Forms
- Article
- het gordijn
- Plural
- de gordijnen
- Diminutive
- het gordijntje
- Also means
- net curtain
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Het gordijn is dicht.
The curtain is closed.
Kun je het gordijn opendoen?
Can you open the curtain?
Ik vind het blauwe gordijn mooi.
I like the blue curtain.
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 gordijn” rather than as “gordijn” 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.