de of het steno?
het steno
shorthand
noun · /ˈsteː.noː/
It is “het steno”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: steno
Forms
- Article
- het steno
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Zij leert nu het steno.
She is learning shorthand now.
De secretaresse gebruikte altijd steno.
The secretary always used shorthand.
Steno is een snelle manier om te schrijven.
Shorthand is a fast way to write.
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 steno” rather than as “steno” 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.