de of het klaslokaal?
het klaslokaal
classroom
noun · /ˈklɑs.loːˌkaːl/
It is “het klaslokaal”. The plural is “de klaslokalen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: klaslokaal
Forms
- Article
- het klaslokaal
- Plural
- de klaslokalen
- Diminutive
- het klaslokaaltje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het klaslokaal is leeg.
The classroom is empty.
De leerlingen komen het klaslokaal binnen.
The students enter the classroom.
In welk klaslokaal zitten we?
Which classroom are we in?
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 klaslokaal” rather than as “klaslokaal” 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.