de of het onderstel?
het onderstel
undercarriage
noun · /ˈɔn.dərˌstɛl/
It is “het onderstel”. The plural is “de onderstellen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: onderstel
Forms
- Article
- het onderstel
- Plural
- de onderstellen
- Diminutive
- het onderstelletje
- Also means
- underframe, chassis
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het onderstel van de auto is roestig.
The undercarriage of the car is rusty.
Dit voertuig heeft een stevig onderstel.
This vehicle has a sturdy undercarriage.
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 onderstel” rather than as “onderstel” 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.