de of het wijnglas?
het wijnglas
wine glass
noun · /ˈʋɛi̯ŋɣlɑs/
It is “het wijnglas”. The plural is “de wijnglazzen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: wijnglas
Forms
- Article
- het wijnglas
- Plural
- de wijnglazzen
- Diminutive
- het wijnglaasje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ze schonk de rode wijn in het grote wijnglas.
She poured the red wine into the large wine glass.
Hij hief zijn wijnglas en bracht een toost uit op het bruidspaar.
He raised his wine glass and proposed a toast to the newlyweds.
De ober bracht nieuwe wijnglazen voor de gasten die wijn wilden drinken.
The waiter brought new wine glasses for the guests who wanted to drink wine.
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 wijnglas” rather than as “wijnglas” 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.