de of het toestel?
het toestel
device
noun · /ˈtuˌstɛl/
It is “het toestel”. The plural is “de toestellen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: toestel
Forms
- Article
- het toestel
- Plural
- de toestellen
- Diminutive
- het toestelletje
- Also means
- appliance, apparatus, aircraft, airplane
- How common
- among the 5,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Zet het toestel aan met deze knop.
Turn the device on with this button.
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 toestel” rather than as “toestel” 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.