de of het kippenhok?
het kippenhok
chicken coop
noun · /ˈkɪ.pə(n)ˌɦɔk/
It is “het kippenhok”. The plural is “de kippenhokken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kippenhok
Forms
- Article
- het kippenhok
- Plural
- de kippenhokken
- Diminutive
- het kippenhokje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De kippen slapen in het kippenhok.
The chickens sleep in the chicken coop.
Hij bouwt een nieuw kippenhok in de tuin.
He is building a new chicken coop in the garden.
Is het kippenhok al schoongemaakt?
Has the chicken coop been cleaned yet?
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 kippenhok” rather than as “kippenhok” 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.