de of het prieel?
het prieel
gazebo
noun · /priˈeːl/
It is “het prieel”. The plural is “de priëlen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: prieel
Forms
- Article
- het prieel
- Plural
- de priëlen
- Diminutive
- het prieeltje
- Also means
- open, roofed gazebo, pleasant region
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het prieel staat mooi in de tuin.
The arbour looks nice in the garden.
Zullen we in het prieel gaan zitten?
Shall we go sit in the arbour?
Ze hebben een nieuw prieel gebouwd.
They built a new arbour.
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 prieel” rather than as “prieel” 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.