de of het kindertehuis?
het kindertehuis
children's home
noun · /ˈkɪn.dər.təˌɦœy̯s/
It is “het kindertehuis”. The plural is “de kindertehuizen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kindertehuis
Forms
- Article
- het kindertehuis
- Plural
- de kindertehuizen
- Diminutive
- het kindertehuisje
- Also means
- orphanage
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het kindertehuis sloot vorig jaar.
The children's home closed last year.
Hij groeide op in een kindertehuis.
He grew up in a children's home.
Ze brachten hem naar het kindertehuis.
They brought him to the children's home.
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 kindertehuis” rather than as “kindertehuis” 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.