Say den Bus in Luxembourg and you sound like a learner. Say de Bus and you sound local. The difference is one of the most distinctive rules in Luxembourgish: the Eifeler Regel, which drops a final n in most situations.
Native speakers apply it automatically, in speech and in writing. Getting it right is a quick, high-leverage way to sound more natural in your Sproochentest.
The rule
Drop a final -n (or -nn), unless the next word starts with a vowel or with one of d, h, n, t, z.
Mnemonic: D, H, N, T, Z (and vowels) keep the n. Everything else drops it.
Drop the n
Before any other consonant, the n disappears:
- den Mann becomes de Mann (before m)
- den Park becomes de Park (before p)
- wann mer ginn becomes wa mer ginn (before m)
- Ech kommen muer becomes Ech komme muer (before m)
Note: b does not keep it. den Bus becomes de Bus.
Keep the n
Before a vowel or d/h/n/t/z, it stays:
- den Apel (vowel)
- den Dësch (d), den Hond (h), den Tiger (t), den Zuch (z)
- Ech kommen elo (a vowel follows)
When it does not apply
The rule is about grammatical endings: verb -en, plurals, the articles den, eng, keen, and function words like wann, dann, hunn. It does not touch an -nn that is part of a word's root, so Mann, Sonn, and dënn keep theirs. Loanwords (Situatioun, Persoun) and names (Schuman) are left alone too. At the end of a sentence, keep the n.
Why it matters for the exam
The examiners grade how clear and natural your Luxembourgish sounds. Dropping the n correctly is one of the fastest ways to move from "textbook" to "real." You do not need to think about it mid-sentence; train it on your model answers until it runs by itself.