de of het mille?
het mille
grand
noun · /mil/
It is “het mille”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: mille
Forms
- Article
- het mille
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
De reparatie kostte me een mille.
The repair cost me a grand.
Hoeveel mille verdien je daar per maand?
How many grand do you earn there per month?
Ik heb een mille gespaard voor een nieuwe fiets.
I've saved a grand for a new bike.
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 mille” rather than as “mille” 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.