de of het hemd?
het hemd
shirt
noun · /ˈɦɛmt/
It is “het hemd”. The plural is “de hemden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: hemd
Forms
- Article
- het hemd
- Plural
- de hemden
- Diminutive
- het hemdje
- Also means
- singlet, undershirt
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Hij draagt een blauw hemd.
He is wearing a blue shirt.
Dit hemd is te klein geworden.
This shirt has become too small.
Was je vuile hemd zelf!
Wash your dirty shirt yourself!
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 hemd” rather than as “hemd” 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.