de of het mormel?
het mormel
mongrel
noun
It is “het mormel”. The plural is “de mormels”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: mormel
Forms
- Article
- het mormel
- Plural
- de mormels
- Diminutive
- het mormeltje
- Also means
- mutt, cur, inferior, ugly dog, unattractive creature
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het mormel blafte de hele nacht.
The mongrel barked all night.
Dat mormel heeft alweer iets gestolen.
That mongrel has stolen something again.
Een klein, zwart mormel zat voor de deur.
A small, black mongrel sat in front of the door.
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 mormel” rather than as “mormel” 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.