Which Dutch nouns take de (the)
Most singular Dutch nouns and every plural use de; person nouns and several endings give useful clues, but many articles still need to be learned with the noun.
De tafel staat buiten. (The table is outside.) Most singular Dutch nouns take de (the). Many nouns have no reliable article clue.
Which noun groups usually take de?
de vrouw (the woman) shows the usual pattern for person nouns. de appel (the apple) shows the general pattern for fruits and plants. de glazen (the glasses) shows the fixed plural rule: every plural noun takes de with a definite article.
- Most words for people and professions take de: de vrouw (the woman), de dokter (the doctor), de leraar (the teacher). Common singular exceptions include het kind (the child), het lid (the member) and het slachtoffer (the victim). A compound follows its final part, so it is het Kamerlid (the member of parliament) and het afdelingshoofd (the head of department).
- Fruits, trees and plants are generally de-words: de appel (the apple), de boom (the tree), de bloem (the flower). Treat this as a clue, not a complete rule; the general word is het fruit (fruit).
- Every plural noun takes de when it has a definite article. The singular article does not matter: het glas → de glazen (the glass → the glasses), and het meisje → de meisjes (the girl → the girls).
Which endings point to de?
de opleiding (the training course), de vrijheid (freedom) and de politie (the police) all take de. Their endings are useful clues. Some clues apply only when the ending forms the noun; the same final letters can appear in unrelated words.
| Clue | Example | What to remember |
|---|---|---|
| noun-forming -ing | de opleiding (the training course) | this suffix forms de-words |
| -heid | de vrijheid (freedom) | this suffix forms de-words |
| -tie | de politie (the police) | usually takes de |
| -teit or -iteit | de universiteit (the university) | usually takes de |
| -ie | de familie (the family) | usually takes de |
| person or job noun in -er | de bakker (the baker) | this person-forming use takes de |
| person or job noun in -aar or -eur | de ambtenaar (the civil servant), de directeur (the director) | these person nouns take de |
A suffix is more than the last letters. In opleiding, -ing forms a noun and gives de, but het ding (the thing) only happens to end in the same letters. Likewise, de bakker is a person noun in -er, while het water (the water) only ends in the letters er.
Why does -schap need its own check?
de vriendschap (friendship) and de wetenschap (science) take de, while het lidmaatschap (membership) and het genootschap (the association) take het. Meaning gives only a tendency. Words for a state or quality and some words made from verbs often take de. Words for holding a role or status often take het, as do some institution names. Several common words must be learned individually, including de boodschap (the message or errand), het gezelschap (the company), het landschap (the landscape) and het gereedschap (tools or equipment).
Which articles do singular and plural diminutives take?
de vrouw (the woman) becomes het vrouwtje (the little woman) in the singular diminutive and de vrouwtjes (the little women) in the plural. Every singular diminutive takes het, including words for people. Every definite plural takes de, including plurals of diminutives. That is why it is het meisje (the girl) but de meisjes (the girls).
How should you learn nouns without a clue?
Write de tafel, not tafel, on a vocabulary card. This keeps the article with the singular noun. If no reliable clue applies, de is the more likely guess because most nouns are de-words. Then check the word in a dictionary or spelling list.
See also
Use the de and het overview for the wider article system and which nouns take het for the competing clues. Review the plural in -en to form common plurals.
- Vul in: *___ dokter is er nog niet.* (the doctor is not here yet)
- Het
- De
- Een
- Dat
*Dokter* names a person and profession, and its fixed article-noun pair is *de dokter* (the doctor). Person words are usually de-words.
- Which noun takes *de* because of its ending?
- het museum
- de vrijheid
- het moment
- het goud
The suffix *-heid* forms de-words, so the correct pair is *de vrijheid* (freedom). The other three are het-words.
- What is the article of the plural *glazen* (glasses)?
- het
- de
- een
- no article
Every definite plural takes *de*, even when the singular takes *het*: *het glas* → *de glazen*.
- Why does *het meisje* take *het*, not *de*, even though it is a person?
- it is a plural
- it is a singular diminutive, and singular diminutives take het
- person words always take het
- it ends in -je, so it takes de
*meisje* is a singular diminutive, so it takes *het*: *het meisje*. Its plural follows the plural rule and takes *de*: *de meisjes*.
- Which *-schap* noun is a het-word?
- vriendschap
- wetenschap
- boodschap
- lidmaatschap
*het lidmaatschap* (membership) is a het-word. The other three take *de*: *de vriendschap*, *de wetenschap* and *de boodschap*.
Test yourself
Question 1 of 5
Vul in: ___ dokter is er nog niet. (the doctor is not here yet)