de of het renpaard?
het renpaard
racehorse
noun · /ˈrɛn.paːrt/
It is “het renpaard”. The plural is “de renpaarden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: renpaard
Forms
- Article
- het renpaard
- Plural
- de renpaarden
- Diminutive
- het renpaardje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het renpaard rende snel over de baan.
The racehorse ran fast over the track.
Veel renpaarden trainen elke dag hard.
Many racehorses train hard every day.
Mijn oom heeft een beroemd renpaard gekocht.
My uncle bought a famous racehorse.
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 renpaard” rather than as “renpaard” 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.