de of het warenhuis?
het warenhuis
department store
noun · /ˈʋaː.rə(n)ˌɦœy̯s/
It is “het warenhuis”. The plural is “de warenhuizen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: warenhuis
Forms
- Article
- het warenhuis
- Plural
- de warenhuizen
- Diminutive
- het warenhuisje
- Also means
- warehouse
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
We gaan vanmiddag naar het warenhuis.
We are going to the department store this afternoon.
Dit warenhuis heeft veel leuke spullen.
This department store has many nice things.
Ik kocht een jas in het warenhuis.
I bought a coat in the department store.
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 warenhuis” rather than as “warenhuis” 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.