de of het pompstation?
het pompstation
filling station
noun
It is “het pompstation”. The plural is “de pompstations”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: pompstation
Forms
- Article
- het pompstation
- Plural
- de pompstations
- Diminutive
- het pompstationnetje
- Also means
- petrol station, gas station
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het pompstation is om de hoek.
The filling station is around the corner.
Ik tank altijd bij dit pompstation.
I always refuel at this filling station.
Dit pompstation heeft een goede shop.
This filling station has a good shop.
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 pompstation” rather than as “pompstation” 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.