De or het bus?

Forms

Singular

de bus

Plural

de bussen

Diminutive

het busje

Why de?

• No reliable spelling rule decides this one, so de bus is learned together with the word.
• Every plural takes de, so it is de bussen whatever the singular takes.
• Every diminutive takes het: het busje.

The rules for de and het, with the exceptions

Meaning in English

1. bus, omnibus (vehicle)
2. a container, a box, a tin
3. a bushing
4. one of a variety of early modern firearms, such as flintlock and matchlock guns
5. a voluntary sick fund, especially before the introduction of universal health care in the Netherlands in the 1940s
6. minibus, minivan