One of the more tricky parts of the Dutch language are the definite articles. As a non-native Dutch speaker, this is one of the more difficult things for me to get correct, and if you haven’t noticed already, I still occasionally mess it up every now and again. At least as a non-native Dutch speaker I get granted a certain amount of leniency by the very patient Dutch people around me, because if you use the wrong one, you will usually still be understood. But it’s still very important to learn, so let’s get down to some nitty-gritty grammar.
Without further ado…
In English we have the definite article the. In Dutch we have the definite articles de and het.
For example:
de auto: the car
het huis: the house
De and het serve the same function as the in English. What makes it all so tricky is that there are no simple rules for determining if a word is a de word, or a het word. Apparently all native Dutch speakers come equipped with a de/het determining radar, but alas you and I must somehow try to make some sense of it all. Do not despair, there are a few tricks to help us out along the way.
1. The first clue is that around 80 percent of Dutch words are de words. If you really aren’t certain, just stick with de. If you chose the wrong one, it’s okay. More often than not, if you make a de/het error, you will still be understood.
2. The second clue is that all plural words are always de words. All the time. No exceptions.
Examples (keep your eye out for spelling changes with plurals here):
het huis = de huizen [the house(s)]
het jaar = de jaren [the year(s)]
het restaurant = de restaurants [the restaurant(s)]
de stoel = de stoelen [the chair(s)]
de kat = de katten [the cat(s)]
de tafel = de tafels [the table(s)]
3. A third clue is in the ending of the word. If a word ends in -je, -pje, -asme, -isme, -um, or -sel the word is a HET word.
For example:
het huisje: the little house
het filmpje: the little film
het enthousiasme: the enthusiasm
het feminisme: (the) feminism
het universum: the universe
het verschijnsel: the phenomenon
4. A fourth clue is yet another ending of the word. If a word ends in -held, -ie, -ica or -ing it is a DE word.
For example:
de gezondheid: the health
de situatie: the situation
de grammatica: the grammar
de ontdekking: the discovery/finding
5. The fifth clue isn’t really a clue at all, and I offer my deepest apologies and sympathies for it. You simply have to memorize whether or not a word is de or het. A tip for making it less tedious is to keep a list of het words as you learn them, and remember that these are het words. Otherwise, assume you have a de word on your hands.
If you are really very curious about de and het words, there are resources available that go into even more complicated rules for determining whether a word is de or het. I don’t recommend doing it unless you want a headache. After you have read the rules you will only discover there are more exceptions to the rules than words that follow the rules. But over time, with lots of practice, you’ll start to develop a small de/het determining radar as well.
2 Comments
nice explanation!!! do you have more lessons on dutch?
There are quite a few posts on the blog about learning Dutch. Have a bit of a search and you should come across them. Good luck!
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[...] Sarah also wrote a post on definite articles last year. If you are looking for more tips or just another wording of what de and het are all about, then check it out. [...]