de of het theehuis?
het theehuis
teahouse
noun · /ˈteː.ɦœy̯s/
It is “het theehuis”. The plural is “de theehuizen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: theehuis
Forms
- Article
- het theehuis
- Plural
- de theehuizen
- Diminutive
- het theehuisje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het theehuis is nu gesloten.
The teahouse is closed now.
Laten we naar het theehuis gaan.
Let's go to the teahouse.
In het theehuis serveren ze lekkere taart.
They serve delicious cake in the teahouse.
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 theehuis” rather than as “theehuis” 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.