De or het steen?
de steen
stone (small rock)
/steːn/
Article and plural
- Singular
- de steen
- Plural (meervoud)
- de stenen
- Diminutive
- het steentje
Why de?
- No reliable spelling rule decides this one, so de steen is learned together with the word.
- Every plural takes de, so it is de stenen whatever the singular takes.
- Every diminutive takes het: het steentje.
The rules for de and het, with the exceptions
Check the article of another noun
What de changes
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| this, these | deze steen | deze stenen |
| that, those | die steen | die stenen |
| which (the … that) | de steen die … | de stenen die … |
| our | onze steen | onze stenen |
Meaning in English
- stone (small rock)
- stone (hard substance)
- stone (drupe pit)
- tile, stone (a hard playing piece used in various tabletop games such as dominoes, backgammon or mahjong)
Remember steen 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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