de of het stokbrood?
het stokbrood
baguette
noun · /ˈstɔk.broːt/
It is “het stokbrood”. The plural is “de stokbroden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: stokbrood
Forms
- Article
- het stokbrood
- Plural
- de stokbroden
- Diminutive
- het stokbroodje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Even verder draagt er een drie met een touwtje samengebonden stokbroden.
A little further away someone carries three baguettes that have been tied together with a piece of string.
Bij de barbecue eten we altijd lekker stokbrood.
At the barbecue, we always eat delicious baguette.
Ik heb gisteren een stokbrood gebakken.
Yesterday I baked a baguette.
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 stokbrood” rather than as “stokbrood” 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.