de of het sleutelgat?
het sleutelgat
keyhole
noun · /ˈsløː.təlˌɣɑt/
It is “het sleutelgat”. The plural is “de sleutelgaten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: sleutelgat
Forms
- Article
- het sleutelgat
- Plural
- de sleutelgaten
- Diminutive
- het sleutelgaatje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het sleutelgat is oud en roestig.
The keyhole is old and rusty.
Hij keek stiekem door het sleutelgat.
He secretly looked through the keyhole.
Steek de sleutel in het sleutelgat.
Put the key in the keyhole.
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 sleutelgat” rather than as “sleutelgat” 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.