de of het amazonegebied?
het amazonegebied
Amazonia
noun · /aː.maːˈzɔː.nə.xəˌbit/
It is “het amazonegebied”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: amazonegebied
Forms
- Article
- het amazonegebied
- Also means
- amazon river bassin
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het Amazonegebied is een enorm regenwoud.
The Amazon region is an enormous rainforest.
Veel unieke dieren leven in het Amazonegebied.
Many unique animals live in the Amazon region.
Ontbossing bedreigt het Amazonegebied ernstig.
Deforestation seriously threatens the Amazon region.
Why this article
No rule predicts it
This one has to be memorised. No spelling pattern marks it as neuter, which is exactly why it is worth learning as “het amazonegebied” rather than as “amazonegebied” on its own.
The rules that do work
- • Every plural takes “de”, without exception.
- • Every diminutive ending in -je takes “het”, without exception.
- • Nouns ending in -ing, -heid, -tie, -teit or -schap take “de”.
- • Roughly two thirds of all nouns take “de”, so it is the better guess.
Other nouns whose article has to be memorised
Stop guessing de and het
Woordje has a practice mode for exactly this: it shows a noun and asks for the article, and keeps asking until you stop getting it wrong.