de of het vod?
het vod
rag
noun
It is “het vod”. The plural is “de vodden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: vod
Forms
- Article
- het vod
- Plural
- de vodden
- Diminutive
- het vodje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik pakte het oude vod om de tafel af te vegen.
I grabbed the old rag to wipe the table.
De vodden lagen overal op de vloer.
The rags lay everywhere on the floor.
Gebruik dit vod om het gemorste water op te dweilen.
Use this rag to mop up the spilled water.
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 vod” rather than as “vod” 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.