de of het muntstuk?
het muntstuk
coin
noun · /ˈmʏnt.stʏk/
It is “het muntstuk”. The plural is “de muntstukken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: muntstuk
Forms
- Article
- het muntstuk
- Plural
- de muntstukken
- Diminutive
- het muntstukje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het muntstuk rolde onder de kast.
The coin rolled under the cabinet.
Geef me alsjeblieft één muntstuk.
Please give me one coin.
Er lagen veel oude muntstukken op tafel.
There were many old coins on the table.
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 muntstuk” rather than as “muntstuk” 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.