de of het kleingeld?
het kleingeld
small change
noun · /ˈklɛi̯n.ɣɛlt/
It is “het kleingeld”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kleingeld
Forms
- Article
- het kleingeld
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Ik heb geen kleingeld bij me.
I don't have any small change on me.
Heeft u misschien wat kleingeld voor de automaat?
Do you perhaps have some small change for the machine?
Doe al het kleingeld in deze pot.
Put all the small change in this jar.
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 kleingeld” rather than as “kleingeld” 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.