de of het reisbureau?
het reisbureau
travel agency
noun · /ˈrɛi̯s.byˌroː/
It is “het reisbureau”. The plural is “de reisbureaus”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: reisbureau
Forms
- Article
- het reisbureau
- Plural
- de reisbureaus
- Diminutive
- het reisbureautje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het reisbureau was dicht tijdens de zomervakantie.
The travel agency was closed during the summer holidays.
We boeken onze vakantie altijd bij het reisbureau.
We always book our holiday at the travel agency.
Dat reisbureau heeft veel goede aanbiedingen.
That travel agency has many good offers.
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 reisbureau” rather than as “reisbureau” 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.