Short answer: roughly two out of three Dutch words take de, the rest take het. You cannot tell from the word itself. There are rules that are often right, and there is one big consolation: in the plural it is always de.
When is it always 'het'?
- Diminutives, so everything ending in -je, -tje, -pje or -etje: het meisje, het kopje, het autootje.
- Languages: het Nederlands, het Arabisch, het Oekraïens.
- Sports: het voetbal, het zwemmen.
- Metals: het goud, het ijzer.
- Compass directions: het noorden, het zuiden.
When is it almost always 'de'?
- All plurals: de huizen, de boeken, de kinderen. Without exception.
- People and professions: de man, de vrouw, de dokter, de leraar.
- Words ending in -ing, -heid, -teit and -ij: de opleiding, de gezondheid, de kwaliteit, de bakkerij.
- Vegetables, fruits, trees and plants: de appel, de boom, de wortel.
One more rule of thumb: be-, ge-, ver-, ont-
Two-syllable words starting with be-, ge-, ver- or ont- that come from a verb usually take *het*: het begin, het gebruik, het verhaal, het ontbijt. Usually, not always: it is *de gedachte*. So use rules like these as help, not as law.
Why it matters for your whole sentence
The article does not stand on its own. It also determines what the adjective looks like, and which demonstrative you use. This is why a wrong article stands out immediately:
| de word: de tafel | het word: het huis | |
|---|---|---|
| with de or het | de kleine tafel | het kleine huis |
| with een | een kleine tafel | een klein huis |
| dit or deze | deze tafel, die tafel | dit huis, dat huis |
Look at the row with *een*: with a het word the -e of the adjective disappears. Anyone saying *een kleine huis* gives away in three words that they do not know the article. This counts in the assessment of your writing exam and it is one of the most common mistakes in the exam.
How to remember them
- Never learn a new word on its own. Always learn *het raam*, never *raam*.
- Put it in a short sentence you remember: *het raam staat open*.
- Unsure while speaking? Make it plural, then it is always *de*.
- Practise with flashcards and repeat the words you got wrong. Repetition works better here than memorising rules.
And above all: do not let a wrong article stop you from speaking. People will understand you anyway. But do practise them, because this is one of the few things in Dutch you can fully master through sheer repetition. More tips in learning Dutch fastest.
Learn the article along with the word
In the Words module of Inburgerify you practise more than 1,600 words with their article, using flashcards and games that bring the difficult words back more often.
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