"The girl"

Translation: Het meisje

[KazikLec]

"Obviously feminine or masculine nouns: de. Gender is very difficult to tell in Dutch, but obvious words like woman (vrouw) and man get de."
So why "de meisje" is incorrect? It is an exception?

[hungover]

Yes, meisje is neuter. Just like Mädchen is neuter in German.

[lissyeast]

girl (meisje) is not feminine or masculine? so De is for neutral and masuline, and Het is feminine?

[linguafrancesca]

No, the word girl in Dutch (and German) is neuter, as hungover mentioned before. De is for feminine and masculine nouns, while het is for neuter nouns. I don't know why the word for girl is neuter in Dutch and German, but they are so you use het.

[Frank437703]

The original word for girl is actually 'de meid' (compare to English 'maid').

'Het meisje' is the diminutive of that word, very commonly used.

Diminutives are always neuter, and take 'het'.

[KazikLec]

Thank you!

[Arancaytar]

Meisje is the diminutive of meid. All diminutives are neuter.

(Thankfully this works the same way in German, or I'd be confused by it too.)

[IDXK073]

If a word has "je" or "tje" behind it (meisje, muisje, jongetje, kastje) it a small version of an object, so it gets "het" instead of "de".
Example: De jongen(the boy). Het kleine jongetje (the little boy).

[Ian779725]

What is the difference between het and de?

[PakPolyGlot]

Het is used for neutral nouns and de is used for masculine and feminine.

[Mr.HelloBye]

When is 'het' to be used as opposed to 'de'?

[davidvdb]

Read this post: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/3732938 :)

[KameronCla7]

How do I know when to use"Het" instead of"De" when speaking Dutch

[Findict]

In this case, "meisje" is not only a plural, but it also is a diminutive. Diminutives are always neutral and always use "het". So it's "de auto", but "het autootje" (the car, the small car).