de of het kinderboek?
het kinderboek
children's book
noun · /ˈkɪn.dərˌbuk/
It is “het kinderboek”. The plural is “de kinderboeken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kinderboek
Forms
- Article
- het kinderboek
- Plural
- de kinderboeken
- Diminutive
- het kinderboekje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ze kocht een nieuw kinderboek voor haar zoon.
She bought a new children's book for her son.
Het kinderboek ligt al dagen op tafel.
The children's book has been on the table for days.
Mijn dochter leest graag kinderboeken met dieren.
My daughter likes to read children's books with animals.
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 kinderboek” rather than as “kinderboek” 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.