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De or het pen?

de pen

pen (writing utensil)

/pɛn/

Article and plural

Singular
de pen
Plural (meervoud)
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

Check the article of another noun

What de changes

SingularPlural
this, thesedeze pendeze pennen
that, thosedie pendie pennen
which (the … that)de pen die …de pennen die …
ouronze penonze pennen

Meaning in English

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

Remember pen 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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