de of het stoombad?
het stoombad
steam bath
noun · /ˈstoːm.bɑt/
It is “het stoombad”. The plural is “de stoombaden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: stoombad
Forms
- Article
- het stoombad
- Plural
- de stoombaden
- Diminutive
- het stoombadje
- Also means
- sauna
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het stoombad is erg ontspannend.
The steam bath is very relaxing.
Na het werk neem ik vaak een stoombad.
After work, I often take a steam bath.
Onze sportschool heeft een nieuw stoombad.
Our gym has a new steam bath.
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 stoombad” rather than as “stoombad” 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.