GENDER AND ARTICLES

In Dutch, there are three (grammatical) genders: masculine, feminine,

and neuter. Each gender has their own definite article (‘the’): both
singular masculine and feminine nouns use de and singular neuter
nouns use het. For plural nouns, de is always used. The definite
articles de and het don't have very clear rules for when you're supposed
to use which; this will mostly be learning by heart and developing a
feeling for it. However, there are some guidelines to help you along:

De words:

1. De is always used for plural nouns

2. De is always used for professions: de kok (‘the chef’), de leraar (‘the
teacher’)
3. De tends to be used for people with an identified gender, such as: de
vader (‘the father’), de dochter (‘the daughter’)

4. De is used for vegetables, fruits, trees and plants, names of mountains,

and rivers
5. Furthermore, de is used for most words ending on -ie, -ij, -heid, -teit, -
schap, -tie, -sie, -aar, -eur, -er, and -or.

6. Finally, de is used for written-out numbers and letters: de drie (‘the

three’), de a (‘the a’).
Het words:

1. Het is always used for diminutives. Diminutives can be recognised by

their suffix; they end in -je, -tje, -etje, -pje, or -mpje.

2. Het is always used for words consisting of two syllables and starting
with be-, ge-, ver-, and ont-
3. Het is always used for verbs used as nouns. When the infinitive form of a
verb is used as a noun (e.g. 'the walking of the dog'), Dutch uses het (het
lopen van de hond).

4. Het is always used for languages and names of metals

5. Het is also used for names of compass points: het noorden (‘the North’)
6. Het is used for names of sports and games: het schaken (‘chess’), het
voetbal(‘football/soccer’)
7. Furthermore, het is used for words ending on -isme and -ment
Dutch speakers actually never tend to think about the gender of words.
Rather than knowing whether a word is originally feminine or masculine,
the only distinction that has to be remembered is the difference between
the de words and het words. This is because it has grammatical
consequences (in terms of possessives, question words, demonstratives,
adjectives, and even relative pronouns). This is why when you learn a
new noun, it is very important to memorize whether it is a de or het word.

Present simple imati i biti:

Vok:
de appel – jabuka
krant – novine
de man – muškarac
het vrouw – žena
het kind – dijete
de jongen – dječak
het meisje - djevojčica