Skip to content

De or het meester?

← Dutch words

de meester

a schoolteacher, notably in primary education

/ˈmeːstər/

Forms

Singular
de meester
Plural
de meesters
Diminutive
het meestertje

Why de?

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

The rules for de and het, with the exceptions

Meaning in English

  1. a schoolteacher, notably in primary education
  2. a master, boss, superior
  3. a manager, person put in charge of something
  4. an expert or champion in something
  5. a holder of an academic master degree, especially in law
  6. form of address for an attorney

Remember meester 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.

See what Spreek does

FreeiPhoneDownload on the App Store