de of het vaandel?
het vaandel
ensign
noun
It is “het vaandel”. The plural is “de vaandels”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: vaandel
Forms
- Article
- het vaandel
- Plural
- de vaandels
- Diminutive
- het vaandeltje
- Also means
- banner, pennant
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het vaandel hangt aan de muur.
The ensign hangs on the wall.
De groep liep achter het vaandel aan.
The group walked behind the ensign.
Onze club heeft een nieuw vaandel.
Our club has a new ensign.
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 vaandel” rather than as “vaandel” 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.