de of het kapsel?
het kapsel
haircut
noun · /ˈkɑp.səl/
It is “het kapsel”. The plural is “de kapsels”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kapsel
Forms
- Article
- het kapsel
- Plural
- de kapsels
- Diminutive
- het kapseltje
- Also means
- hairstyle, hairdo, capsule
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Ze heeft een heel modern kapsel nu.
She has a very modern haircut now.
Vind je mijn nieuwe kapsel leuk?
Do you like my new haircut?
Ik wil graag een ander kapsel proberen.
I would like to try a different haircut.
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 kapsel” rather than as “kapsel” 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.