de of het bijvak?
het bijvak
minor subject
noun · /ˈbɛi̯.vɑk/
It is “het bijvak”. The plural is “de bijvakken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: bijvak
Forms
- Article
- het bijvak
- Plural
- de bijvakken
- Diminutive
- het bijvakje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik volg een bijvak dit semester.
I am taking a minor subject this semester.
Welk bijvak wil je kiezen?
Which minor subject do you want to choose?
Het bijvak was erg interessant.
The minor subject was very interesting.
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 bijvak” rather than as “bijvak” 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.