de of het rusthuis?
het rusthuis
retirement home
noun · /ˈrʏst.ɦœy̯s/
It is “het rusthuis”. The plural is “de rusthuizen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: rusthuis
Forms
- Article
- het rusthuis
- Plural
- de rusthuizen
- Diminutive
- het rusthuisje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Mijn oma woont in het rusthuis.
My grandma lives in the retirement home.
We bezoeken het rusthuis elke week.
We visit the retirement home every week.
Dit rusthuis heeft een fijne sfeer.
This retirement home has a pleasant atmosphere.
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 rusthuis” rather than as “rusthuis” 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.