de of het scheerapparaat?
het scheerapparaat
electric shaver
noun · /ˈsxeːr.ɑ.paːˌraːt/
It is “het scheerapparaat”. The plural is “de scheerapparaten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: scheerapparaat
Forms
- Article
- het scheerapparaat
- Plural
- de scheerapparaten
- Diminutive
- het scheerapparaatje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het scheerapparaat ligt in de badkamer.
The electric shaver is in the bathroom.
Mijn scheerapparaat werkt niet meer goed.
My electric shaver no longer works well.
Heb je een nieuw scheerapparaat nodig?
Do you need a new electric shaver?
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 scheerapparaat” rather than as “scheerapparaat” 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.