de of het stuurwiel?
het stuurwiel
steering wheel
noun · /ˈstyːr.ʋil/
It is “het stuurwiel”. The plural is “de stuurwielen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: stuurwiel
Forms
- Article
- het stuurwiel
- Plural
- de stuurwielen
- Diminutive
- het stuurwieltje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij pakte het stuurwiel stevig vast.
He gripped the steering wheel firmly.
Het stuurwiel heeft veel knoppen.
The steering wheel has many buttons.
Ze draaide aan het stuurwiel.
She turned the steering wheel.
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 stuurwiel” rather than as “stuurwiel” 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.