de of het minimumloon?
het minimumloon
minimum wage
noun · /ˈmi.ni.mʏmˌloːn/
It is “het minimumloon”. The plural is “de minimumlonen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: minimumloon
Forms
- Article
- het minimumloon
- Plural
- de minimumlonen
- Diminutive
- het minimumloontje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Is het minimumloon hoog genoeg?
Is the minimum wage high enough?
Zij werkt voor het minimumloon.
She works for the minimum wage.
Het minimumloon wordt jaarlijks aangepast.
The minimum wage is adjusted annually.
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 minimumloon” rather than as “minimumloon” 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.