de of het onderdeel?
het onderdeel
component
noun · /ˈɔndərdeːl/
It is “het onderdeel”. The plural is “de onderdelen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: onderdeel
Forms
- Article
- het onderdeel
- Plural
- de onderdelen
- Diminutive
- het onderdeeltje
- How common
- among the 3,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Dit is een belangrijk onderdeel van de machine.
This is an important component of the machine.
Samenwerking is een vast onderdeel van dit project.
Collaboration is a fixed part of this project.
Waar koop je dit specifieke onderdeel?
Where do you buy this specific component?
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 onderdeel” rather than as “onderdeel” 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.