de of het woordenboek?
het woordenboek
dictionary
noun · /ˈʋoːrdə(n)ˌbuk/
It is “het woordenboek”. The plural is “de woordenboeken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: woordenboek
Forms
- Article
- het woordenboek
- Plural
- de woordenboeken
- Diminutive
- het woordenboekje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik zoek het woord op in het woordenboek.
I look up the word in the dictionary.
Heb je een Nederlands woordenboek bij je?
Do you have a Dutch dictionary with you?
Een goed woordenboek helpt je enorm.
A good dictionary helps you a lot.
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 woordenboek” rather than as “woordenboek” 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.