Dutch Lessons-Dutch Articles
Dutch Course
| Articles:Dutch has three articles, two definite articles, de and het(the), and one indefinite article een(a or an).Definite articles ‘the’ Definite articles: `de‘ and `het‘:De is used before masculine and feminine nouns and het before neuter nouns. We usually talk about de-words and het- words. There is no way to tell from a given word whether it is one or the other. It is advisable therefore to learn the article together with the new noun that is being learned. Two useful rules may be worth remembering:I. ALL PLURALS ARE DE-WORDS: although `huis’ is a het-word (het huis), the plural is `de huizen’, etc.ii. ALL SINGULAR DIMINUTIVES ARE HET-WORDS: although `tafel’ (table) is a de-word (de tafel), the diminutive is `het tafeltje’, etc.Note: Plurals take preference over diminutives, so we say not only `de huisjes’ but also `de tafeltjes’, etc.2.2 Indefinite articles ‘a, an’ Indefinite article: `een’: `Een’ is pronounced very much like `an’ in `an apple’ and also has the same meaning and function as the indefinite article in English: `a child’ in English is `een kind’ in Dutch; `an accident’ is `een ongeluk’ in Dutch.Personal pronouns Personal Pronouns: |