de of het kleinkind?
het kleinkind
grandchild
noun · /ˈklɛi̯n.kɪnt/
It is “het kleinkind”. The plural is “de kleinkinderen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kleinkind
Forms
- Article
- het kleinkind
- Plural
- de kleinkinderen
- Diminutive
- het kleinkindje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Mijn kleinkind is vandaag jarig.
My grandchild has a birthday today.
Onze kleinkinderen komen logeren.
Our grandchildren are coming to stay over.
Het kleinkind speelde in de tuin.
The grandchild played in the garden.
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 kleinkind” rather than as “kleinkind” 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.