Articles

Articles (Dutch: Lidwoord)
Before I tell you how the Dutch articles work, I brush up your knowledge of English grammar a little. According to several study books an article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. This definition might not be very clear but if you speak English, you recognize articles immediately. In the English language the articles are "the", "an" and "a". If you already know what articles are, scroll down by clicking HERE.

Indefinite articles in English
The indefinite articles are "a" and "an":

an uncle
a house
a cat
an elevator
a dizzy weird octopussy

As you can see, they show up before singular nouns. They tell you that the noun refers to a group.

Definite article in English
The definite article is "the":

the uncle
the cat
the elevator
the dizzy weird octopussy

Definite articles are used before singular and plural nouns. They tell you that the noun is a particular member of a group.

Indefinite articles in Dutch
Not finished yet.

Definite articles in Dutch
In some languages, like in Turkish, there is no definite article. And in some languages, like in Swedish there are two definite articles.
Just like in Swedish, Dutch has two definite articles: "de" and "het".

F.A.Q.
Do de and het words have anything to do with masuline and feminine?
No. When we have a look at the nouns "mayonaise" and "ketchup", we see they're both de-words. But the word genus is different:
De mayonaise (feminine)
De ketchup (masculine)

How do you know if a noun is feminine or masculine?
You have to look it up in a dictionary. In most cases it is masculine. Most of the Dutch native speakers don't know the word genus because it is very uncommon to refer to unhuman nouns like this:

I like mayonaise. She is delicious.

You say this instead:

I like mayonaise. It is delicious.

And what about de and het words. How do you know if a noun is a de or het word?
Same answer as the former question. You have to look it up. But if you are raised in a Dutch speaking environment, you know what kind of article you need to use. The best thing you can do is to learn immediately what article suits the noun you are learning.

Are there some tricks to find out if nouns are de or het words?
Yes there are!

De words
Words that end with:
-heid
-schap
-naar
-ver

Plural nouns are always "de"-words!

Het words
Dimminutives are always "het"-words

Examples:

Het meisje

(the little girl)

Het mannetje

(the little man)

Het boompje

(the little tree)