de of het makkie?
het makkie
breeze
noun · /ˈmɑ.ki/
It is “het makkie”. The plural is “de makkies”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: makkie
Forms
- Article
- het makkie
- Plural
- de makkies
- Also means
- cakewalk, cinch, doddle, piece of cake
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Dit examen is een makkie.
This exam is a breeze.
De opdracht was een makkie voor hem.
The assignment was a breeze for him.
Morgen wordt die klus een makkie.
Tomorrow that job will be a breeze.
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 makkie” rather than as “makkie” 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.