de of het wapentuig?
het wapentuig
military equipment
noun · /ˈʋaː.pə(n)ˌtœy̯x/
It is “het wapentuig”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: wapentuig
Forms
- Article
- het wapentuig
- Also means
- arms
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het land kocht nieuw wapentuig.
The country bought new military equipment.
Oud wapentuig wordt vaak verkocht.
Old military equipment is often sold.
Het wapentuig ligt in de opslag.
The military equipment is in storage.
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 wapentuig” rather than as “wapentuig” 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.