de of het touw?
het touw
rope
noun · /tɑu̯/
It is “het touw”. The plural is “de touwen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: touw
Forms
- Article
- het touw
- Plural
- de touwen
- Diminutive
- het touwtje
- Also means
- string, clipping of getouw
- How common
- among the 3,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Hang de was op aan het touw.
Hang the laundry on the rope.
Ik heb een sterk touw nodig voor deze klus.
I need a strong rope for this task.
Ze bonden de lading vast met touwen.
They tied down the cargo with ropes.
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 touw” rather than as “touw” 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.