de of het plakboek?
het plakboek
scrapbook
noun · /ˈplɑk.buk/
It is “het plakboek”. The plural is “de plakboeken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: plakboek
Forms
- Article
- het plakboek
- Plural
- de plakboeken
- Diminutive
- het plakboekje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het plakboek ligt op de salontafel.
The scrapbook is on the coffee table.
Ik wil graag een mooi plakboek maken.
I would like to make a nice scrapbook.
Ze kijkt vaak in haar oude plakboek.
She often looks in her old scrapbook.
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 plakboek” rather than as “plakboek” 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.