de of het nummerbord?
het nummerbord
number plate
noun · /ˈnʏ.mərˌbɔrt/
It is “het nummerbord”. The plural is “de nummerborden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: nummerbord
Forms
- Article
- het nummerbord
- Plural
- de nummerborden
- Diminutive
- het nummerbordje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het nummerbord van de auto is vies.
The car's number plate is dirty.
Schrijf het nummerbord even op.
Just write down the number plate.
Het voorste nummerbord is eraf.
The front number plate is off.
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 nummerbord” rather than as “nummerbord” 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.