de of het hulpmiddel?
het hulpmiddel
aid
noun · /ˈɦʏlpˌmɪdəl/
It is “het hulpmiddel”. The plural is “de hulpmiddelen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: hulpmiddel
Forms
- Article
- het hulpmiddel
- Plural
- de hulpmiddelen
- Diminutive
- het hulpmiddeltje
- Also means
- instrument, tool
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Dit is een handig hulpmiddel.
This is a handy aid.
Zij bieden verschillende hulpmiddelen aan.
They offer various aids.
Een woordenboek is een nuttig hulpmiddel voor studenten.
A dictionary is a useful aid for students.
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 hulpmiddel” rather than as “hulpmiddel” 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.