de of het middaguur?
het middaguur
midday
noun · /ˈmɪ.dɑxˌyːr/
It is “het middaguur”. The plural is “de middaguren”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: middaguur
Forms
- Article
- het middaguur
- Plural
- de middaguren
- Also means
- noon
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Om het middaguur eten we vaak brood.
At midday we often eat bread.
Het middaguur is meestal het drukste moment.
Midday is usually the busiest moment.
We werken door tot het middaguur.
We work through until midday.
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 middaguur” rather than as “middaguur” 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.