de of het zomerhuis?
het zomerhuis
summerhouse
noun · /ˈzoː.mərˌɦœy̯s/
It is “het zomerhuis”. The plural is “de zomerhuizen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: zomerhuis
Forms
- Article
- het zomerhuis
- Plural
- de zomerhuizen
- Diminutive
- het zomerhuisje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ons zomerhuis staat aan zee.
Our summerhouse is by the sea.
We huren dit jaar een zomerhuis.
We are renting a summerhouse this year.
Hebben jullie een zomerhuis gekocht?
Did you buy a summerhouse?
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 zomerhuis” rather than as “zomerhuis” 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.