de of het stopcontact?
het stopcontact
electrical socket
noun · /ˈstɔpkɔnˌtɑkt/
It is “het stopcontact”. The plural is “de stopcontacten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: stopcontact
Forms
- Article
- het stopcontact
- Plural
- de stopcontacten
- Diminutive
- het stopcontactje
- Also means
- outlet
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Waar is het dichtstbijzijnde stopcontact?
Where is the nearest electrical socket?
Ik steek de stekker in het stopcontact.
I plug the plug into the socket.
Het stopcontact zit achter de bank.
The socket is behind the couch.
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 stopcontact” rather than as “stopcontact” 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.