de of het maatpak?
het maatpak
tailor-made suit
noun · /ˈmaːt.pɑk/
It is “het maatpak”. The plural is “de maatpakken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: maatpak
Forms
- Article
- het maatpak
- Plural
- de maatpakken
- Diminutive
- het maatpakje
- Also means
- bespoke suit
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het maatpak was perfect op maat gemaakt.
The tailor-made suit was perfectly custom-made.
Hij droeg een elegant maatpak naar de receptie.
He wore an elegant tailor-made suit to the reception.
De maatpakken hangen netjes in de kledingkast.
The tailor-made suits hang neatly in the wardrobe.
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 maatpak” rather than as “maatpak” 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.