de of het valies?
het valies
suitcase
noun
It is “het valies”. The plural is “de valiezen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: valies
Forms
- Article
- het valies
- Plural
- de valiezen
- Diminutive
- het valiesje
- Also means
- portmanteau
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het valies was erg zwaar.
The valise was very heavy.
Hij pakte snel zijn valies in.
He quickly packed his valise.
Ze zette het valies naast de deur.
She put the valise next to the door.
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 valies” rather than as “valies” 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.