de of het vakwerk?
het vakwerk
craftsmanship
noun · /ˈvɑk.ʋɛrk/
It is “het vakwerk”. The plural is “de vakwerken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: vakwerk
Forms
- Article
- het vakwerk
- Plural
- de vakwerken
- Diminutive
- het vakwerkje
- Also means
- good, professional-level job, then each square, truss
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Dit meubelstuk is echt vakwerk.
This piece of furniture is real craftsmanship.
De timmerman leverde puik vakwerk af.
The carpenter delivered excellent quality work.
Zie je dat detail? Dat is vakwerk!
Do you see that detail? That's craftsmanship!
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 vakwerk” rather than as “vakwerk” 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.