de of het herenhuis?
het herenhuis
tall townhouse
noun · /ˈɦeː.rə(n)ˌɦœy̯s/
It is “het herenhuis”. The plural is “de herenhuizen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: herenhuis
Forms
- Article
- het herenhuis
- Plural
- de herenhuizen
- Diminutive
- het herenhuisje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het herenhuis staat in het centrum.
The townhouse is in the city center.
Ze kochten een prachtig herenhuis.
They bought a beautiful townhouse.
Veel herenhuizen hebben hoge plafonds.
Many townhouses have high ceilings.
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 herenhuis” rather than as “herenhuis” 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.