de of het stopbord?
het stopbord
stop sign
noun · /ˈstɔp.bɔrt/
It is “het stopbord”. The plural is “de stopborden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: stopbord
Forms
- Article
- het stopbord
- Plural
- de stopborden
- Diminutive
- het stopbordje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Er staat een stopbord verderop.
There is a stop sign further on.
Vergeet niet te stoppen bij het stopbord.
Don't forget to stop at the stop sign.
Het nieuwe stopbord staat nu op de hoek.
The new stop sign is now on the corner.
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 stopbord” rather than as “stopbord” 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.