de of het trainingspak?
het trainingspak
tracksuit
noun · /ˈtreː.nɪŋsˌpɑk/
It is “het trainingspak”. The plural is “de trainingspakken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: trainingspak
Forms
- Article
- het trainingspak
- Plural
- de trainingspakken
- Diminutive
- het trainingspakje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik draag graag mijn trainingspak thuis.
I like to wear my tracksuit at home.
Heb jij een nieuw trainingspak gekocht?
Did you buy a new tracksuit?
Trek je trainingspak aan voor het sporten.
Put on your tracksuit for sports.
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 trainingspak” rather than as “trainingspak” 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.