De or het handdoek?
de handdoek
a towel, a cloth used for drying (sometimes for cleaning) one's hands
/ˈɦɑn.duk/
Article and plural
- Singular
- de handdoek
- Plural (meervoud)
- de handdoeken
- Diminutive
- het handdoekje
Why de?
- No reliable spelling rule decides this one, so de handdoek is learned together with the word.
- Every plural takes de, so it is de handdoeken whatever the singular takes.
- Every diminutive takes het: het handdoekje.
The rules for de and het, with the exceptions
Check the article of another noun
What de changes
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| this, these | deze handdoek | deze handdoeken |
| that, those | die handdoek | die handdoeken |
| which (the … that) | de handdoek die … | de handdoeken die … |
| our | onze handdoek | onze handdoeken |
Meaning in English
- a towel, a cloth used for drying (sometimes for cleaning) one's hands
Remember handdoek 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.
FreeiPhone
(opens in a new tab)