De or het rat?
de rat
a rat, medium-sized rodent belonging to the genus Rattus
/rɑt/
Article and plural
- Singular
- de rat
- Plural (meervoud)
- de ratten
- Diminutive
- het ratje
Why de?
- No reliable spelling rule decides this one, so de rat is learned together with the word.
- Every plural takes de, so it is de ratten whatever the singular takes.
- Every diminutive takes het: het ratje.
The rules for de and het, with the exceptions
Check the article of another noun
What de changes
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| this, these | deze rat | deze ratten |
| that, those | die rat | die ratten |
| which (the … that) | de rat die … | de ratten die … |
| our | onze rat | onze ratten |
Meaning in English
- a rat, medium-sized rodent belonging to the genus Rattus, or of certain other genera in the family Muridae
- any of the numerous, fairly large members of several rodent families that resemble true rats in appearance
- a traitor; a scoundrel; a quisling
- an informant or snitch
- an urchin
- a pauper; undesirable commoner
Remember rat 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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