De or het pen?
de pen
pen (writing utensil)
/pɛn/
Forms
- Singular
- de pen
- Plural
- de pennen
- Diminutive
- het pennetje
Why de?
- No reliable spelling rule decides this one, so de pen is learned together with the word.
- Every plural takes de, so it is de pennen whatever the singular takes.
- Every diminutive takes het: het pennetje.
The rules for de and het, with the exceptions
What de changes
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| this, these | deze pen | deze pennen |
| that, those | die pen | die pennen |
| which (the … that) | de pen die … | de pennen die … |
| our | onze pen | onze pennen |
Meaning in English
- pen (writing utensil)
- a long feather of a bird
- pin
Remember pen with Spreek
Spreek keeps the Dutch words you meet, article included, reviews them with you and then has you use them in a spoken conversation.
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