de of het kopieerapparaat?
het kopieerapparaat
photocopier
noun · /koː.piˈeːr.ɑ.paːˌraːt/
It is “het kopieerapparaat”. The plural is “de kopieerapparaten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kopieerapparaat
Forms
- Article
- het kopieerapparaat
- Plural
- de kopieerapparaten
- Diminutive
- het kopieerapparaatje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het kopieerapparaat is kapot.
The photocopier is broken.
Kun je het kopieerapparaat repareren?
Can you repair the photocopier?
Waar staat het kopieerapparaat?
Where is the photocopier?
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 kopieerapparaat” rather than as “kopieerapparaat” 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.