de of het kantoor?
het kantoor
office
noun · /kɑnˈtoːr/
It is “het kantoor”. The plural is “de kantoren”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kantoor
Forms
- Article
- het kantoor
- Plural
- de kantoren
- Diminutive
- het kantoortje
- Also means
- cabinet
- How common
- among the 1,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Het kantoor is gesloten.
The office is closed.
Ik ga morgen naar kantoor.
I'm going to the office tomorrow.
Mijn kantoor is op de tweede verdieping.
My office is on the second floor.
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 kantoor” rather than as “kantoor” 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.