De or het mens?
de mens
human, any member of the species Homo sapiens
/mɛns/
Article and plural
- Singular
- de mens
- Plural (meervoud)
- de mensen
- Diminutive
- het mensje
Why de?
- No reliable spelling rule decides this one, so de mens is learned together with the word.
- Every plural takes de, so it is de mensen whatever the singular takes.
- Every diminutive takes het: het mensje.
The rules for de and het, with the exceptions
Check the article of another noun
What de changes
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| this, these | deze mens | deze mensen |
| that, those | die mens | die mensen |
| which (the … that) | de mens die … | de mensen die … |
| our | onze mens | onze mensen |
Meaning in English
- human, any member of the species Homo sapiens
- person
Remember mens 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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