de of het schuurpapier?
het schuurpapier
sandpaper
noun · /ˈsxyːr.paːˌpiːr/
It is “het schuurpapier”. The plural is “de schuurpapieren”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: schuurpapier
Forms
- Article
- het schuurpapier
- Plural
- de schuurpapieren
- Diminutive
- het schuurpapiertje
- Also means
- abrasive paper
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het schuurpapier is op.
The sandpaper is all gone.
Geef mij dat schuurpapier even.
Please hand me that sandpaper.
Hij maakte het glad met schuurpapier.
He smoothed it with sandpaper.
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 schuurpapier” rather than as “schuurpapier” 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.