de of het klembord?
het klembord
clipboard
noun
It is “het klembord”. The plural is “de klemborden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: klembord
Forms
- Article
- het klembord
- Plural
- de klemborden
- Diminutive
- het klembordje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het klembord ligt op mijn bureau.
The clipboard is on my desk.
Schrijf de naam op het klembord.
Write the name on the clipboard.
Ik heb een klembord nodig voor de formulieren.
I need a clipboard for the forms.
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 klembord” rather than as “klembord” 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.