De or het haai?
de haai
a shark, fish of the superorder Selachimorpha
/ɦaːi̯/
Article and plural
- Singular
- de haai
- Plural (meervoud)
- de haaien
- Diminutive
- het haaitje
Why de?
- No reliable spelling rule decides this one, so de haai is learned together with the word.
- Every plural takes de, so it is de haaien whatever the singular takes.
- Every diminutive takes het: het haaitje.
The rules for de and het, with the exceptions
Check the article of another noun
What de changes
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| this, these | deze haai | deze haaien |
| that, those | die haai | die haaien |
| which (the … that) | de haai die … | de haaien die … |
| our | onze haai | onze haaien |
Meaning in English
- a shark, fish of the superorder Selachimorpha (sometimes also including certain extinct shark-like members of the Elasmobranchii outside this superorder)
- a ruthless person
- a greedy person
Remember haai 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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