De or het dag?

Forms

Singular

de dag

Plural

de dagen, de daggen

Diminutive

het dagje

Why de?

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

The rules for de and het, with the exceptions

Meaning in English

1. day (period of 24 hours)
2. daytime (time between sunrise and sunset)
3. a meeting or assembly with legal or political power, originally convened on a specific day; a diet
4. a piece of rope, used to punish sailors with, on the spot or in running the gauntlet
5. a line used to fasten young sailors while training boarding a hostile ship or climbing the rigging