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De or het pen?

← Dutch words

de pen

pen (writing utensil)

/pɛn/

Forms

Singular
de pen
Plural
de pennen
Diminutive
het pennetje

Why de?

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

The rules for de and het, with the exceptions

Meaning in English

  1. pen (writing utensil)
  2. a long feather of a bird
  3. pin

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