de of het hek?
het hek
fence
noun · /ɦɛk/
It is “het hek”. The plural is “de hekken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: hek
Forms
- Article
- het hek
- Plural
- de hekken
- Diminutive
- het hekje
- Also means
- stern
- How common
- among the 3,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Het hek rond het park is gesloten.
The fence around the park is closed.
Ze klommen over het hek om de boomgaard binnen te komen.
They climbed over the fence to get into the orchard.
Hij schilderde het hek wit.
He painted the fence white.
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 hek” rather than as “hek” 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.