De or het boef?
de boef
crook, thief, thug
/buf/
Article and plural
- Singular
- de boef
- Plural (meervoud)
- de boeven
- Diminutive
- het boefje
Why de?
- No reliable spelling rule decides this one, so de boef is learned together with the word.
- Every plural takes de, so it is de boeven whatever the singular takes.
- Every diminutive takes het: het boefje.
The rules for de and het, with the exceptions
Check the article of another noun
What de changes
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| this, these | deze boef | deze boeven |
| that, those | die boef | die boeven |
| which (the … that) | de boef die … | de boeven die … |
| our | onze boef | onze boeven |
Meaning in English
- crook, thief, thug
- rascal, scamp
Remember boef 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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