de of het slaghout?
het slaghout
bat
noun · /ˈslɑx.ɦɑu̯t/
It is “het slaghout”. The plural is “de slaghouten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: slaghout
Forms
- Article
- het slaghout
- Plural
- de slaghouten
- Diminutive
- het slaghoutje
- Also means
- wooden device, like bat, stick, puck, animals
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het slaghout lag op de grond.
The bat lay on the ground.
Hij pakte het slaghout stevig vast.
He gripped the bat firmly.
De speler had twee slaghouten.
The player had two bats.
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 slaghout” rather than as “slaghout” 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.