de of het stief?
het stief
eraser
noun · /stif/
It is “het stief”. The plural is “de stiefen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: stief
Forms
- Article
- het stief
- Plural
- de stiefen
- Diminutive
- het stiefje
- Also means
- rubber
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik zoek mijn stief.
I'm looking for my eraser.
Heb jij een stief voor mij?
Do you have an eraser for me?
Gum het uit met het stief.
Erase it with the eraser.
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 stief” rather than as “stief” 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.