de of het hoefijzer?
het hoefijzer
horseshoe
noun · /ˈɦufˌɛi̯.zər/
It is “het hoefijzer”. The plural is “de hoefijzers”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: hoefijzer
Forms
- Article
- het hoefijzer
- Plural
- de hoefijzers
- Diminutive
- het hoefijzertje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het hoefijzer hing boven de deur.
The horseshoe hung above the door.
De smid slaat nieuwe hoefijzers op maat.
The blacksmith forges new horseshoes to measure.
Ik vond een oud hoefijzer bij het pad.
I found an old horseshoe by the path.
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 hoefijzer” rather than as “hoefijzer” 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.