de of het ventiel?
het ventiel
valve
noun · /vɛnˈtil/
It is “het ventiel”. The plural is “de ventielen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: ventiel
Forms
- Article
- het ventiel
- Plural
- de ventielen
- Diminutive
- het ventieltje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het ventiel van mijn fiets lekt.
The valve of my bike is leaking.
Draai het ventiel goed dicht.
Close the valve tightly.
Zet de verwarming open bij het ventiel.
Turn on the heating at the valve.
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 ventiel” rather than as “ventiel” 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.