de of het linnengoed?
het linnengoed
linens
noun · /ˈlɪ.nə(n)ˌɣut/
It is “het linnengoed”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: linnengoed
Forms
- Article
- het linnengoed
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het vuile linnengoed ligt in de wasmand.
The dirty linens are in the laundry basket.
Waar leg jij het schone linnengoed?
Where do you put the clean linens?
We moeten nieuw linnengoed voor de badkamer kopen.
We need to buy new linens for the bathroom.
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 linnengoed” rather than as “linnengoed” 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.