de of het schilderwerk?
het schilderwerk
painting
noun · /ˈsxɪl.dərˌʋɛrk/
It is “het schilderwerk”. The plural is “de schilderwerken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: schilderwerk
Forms
- Article
- het schilderwerk
- Plural
- de schilderwerken
- Diminutive
- het schilderwerkje
- Also means
- paint job
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het schilderwerk duurt langer dan verwacht.
The painting work is taking longer than expected.
Het schilderwerk geeft de kamer een frisse uitstraling.
The paintwork gives the room a fresh look.
De kozijnen hebben nieuw schilderwerk nodig.
The window frames need new paintwork.
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 schilderwerk” rather than as “schilderwerk” 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.