de of het werkstuk?
het werkstuk
essay
noun · /ˈʋɛrk.stʏk/
It is “het werkstuk”. The plural is “de werkstukken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: werkstuk
Forms
- Article
- het werkstuk
- Plural
- de werkstukken
- Diminutive
- het werkstukje
- Also means
- handicraft, artpiece, workpiece
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het werkstuk is eindelijk af.
The essay is finally finished.
Ik moet nog een werkstuk schrijven.
I still need to write an essay.
Heb je je werkstuk al ingeleverd?
Have you handed in your essay yet?
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 werkstuk” rather than as “werkstuk” 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.