de of het lint?
het lint
ribbon
noun · /lɪnt/
It is “het lint”. The plural is “de linten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: lint
Forms
- Article
- het lint
- Plural
- de linten
- Diminutive
- het lintje
- Also means
- cloth band, decoration, medal
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Ik knoop een rood lint om het cadeau.
I tie a red ribbon around the gift.
Ze draagt het lint in haar haar.
She wears the ribbon in her hair.
Heb je nog meer van dit blauwe lint?
Do you have more of this blue ribbon?
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 lint” rather than as “lint” 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.