de of het scheermes?
het scheermes
razor
noun · /ˈsxeːr.mɛs/
It is “het scheermes”. The plural is “de scheermessen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: scheermes
Forms
- Article
- het scheermes
- Plural
- de scheermessen
- Diminutive
- het scheermesje
- Also means
- fine knife, blade for shaving
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het scheermes ligt op de plank.
The razor is on the shelf.
Ik heb een nieuw scheermes gekocht.
I bought a new razor.
Geef me het scheermes, alsjeblieft.
Give me the razor, please.
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 scheermes” rather than as “scheermes” 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.