de of het slachthuis?
het slachthuis
abattoir
noun
It is “het slachthuis”. The plural is “de slachthuizen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: slachthuis
Forms
- Article
- het slachthuis
- Plural
- de slachthuizen
- Diminutive
- het slachthuisje
- Also means
- slaughterhouse
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het slachthuis is gesloten op zondag.
The abattoir is closed on Sunday.
De vrachtwagen rijdt naar het slachthuis.
The truck drives to the abattoir.
Mijn oom werkt in het slachthuis.
My uncle works in the abattoir.
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 slachthuis” rather than as “slachthuis” 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.