de of het reclamebureau?
het reclamebureau
advertising agency
noun · /rəˈklaː.mə.byˌroː/
It is “het reclamebureau”. The plural is “de reclamebureaus”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: reclamebureau
Forms
- Article
- het reclamebureau
- Plural
- de reclamebureaus
- Diminutive
- het reclamebureautje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het reclamebureau ontwierp onze nieuwe huisstijl.
The advertising agency designed our new corporate identity.
Mijn zus werkt bij een groot reclamebureau.
My sister works at a large advertising agency.
Er zijn veel creatieve reclamebureaus in Amsterdam.
There are many creative advertising agencies in Amsterdam.
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 reclamebureau” rather than as “reclamebureau” 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.