Questions & Answers about Het huis is niet hier.
Why does this sentence use het instead of de for "the"?
Dutch has two words for "the": de and het. Huis is a neuter noun, which means it uses het. Because there are very few rules to predict whether a word is a de word or a het word, it is highly recommended to memorize the article whenever you learn a new noun.
If I want to talk about multiple houses, do I still use het?
No, you would use de. A very helpful rule in Dutch is that all plural nouns use de, even if their singular form uses het. So, "the house" is het huis, but "the houses" is de huizen.
Why does niet come right after is?
In a simple Dutch sentence, the word niet (not) is often placed right after the main verb. In this sentence, it perfectly matches the English word order of "is not".
How do I pronounce the ui sound in huis?
The ui vowel combination is uniquely Dutch. It sounds a bit like saying the "ow" in "cow" and the "u" in "purse" at the same time, with rounded lips. It is completely normal if this tricky sound takes a bit of practice!