In some languages you can say: Ik maak auto. But this is not allowed in the Dutch language. This is the rule we are going to learn today. In the Dutch language you must use an article (lidwoord). So the sentence will become: Ik maak de auto.

In the Dutch language there are 3 articles (lidwoorden): de, het, een.

De is used in masculine and feminine words, plural, numbers and letters and names of mountains and rivers: de man, de huizen, de negen, de Nijl. If you are Dutch you don’t think about it but Native Speakers need to get used to choosing the right article.

Het is used in all diminutives, words with two syllables that start with: be-, ge-, ver-, ont-, names of languages, countries, place names, wind directions and words that end on -ism, -sel, -um en -ment.

Een is an indefinite article and can be used for both in masculine, feminine and neuter words. For example: een hond, een meisje, een man.

Use this exercise to test what you just learned.