de of het strijkijzer?
het strijkijzer
iron
noun · /ˈstrɛi̯kˌɛi̯.zər/
It is “het strijkijzer”. The plural is “de strijkijzers”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: strijkijzer
Forms
- Article
- het strijkijzer
- Plural
- de strijkijzers
- Diminutive
- het strijkijzertje
- Also means
- smoothing iron
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het strijkijzer staat in de kast.
The iron is in the cupboard.
Is het strijkijzer al warm?
Is the iron warm yet?
Pak het strijkijzer even, alsjeblieft.
Please get the iron for a moment.
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 strijkijzer” rather than as “strijkijzer” 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.