de of het biljoen?
het biljoen
trillion
noun · /bɪlˈjun/
It is “het biljoen”. The plural is “de biljoenen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: biljoen
Forms
- Article
- het biljoen
- Plural
- de biljoenen
- Diminutive
- het biljoentje
- Also means
- 10¹²
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De staatsschuld bedraagt nu een biljoen euro.
The national debt now amounts to one trillion euros.
Er zijn biljoenen sterren in het heelal.
There are trillions of stars in the universe.
Het bedrijf is meer dan een biljoen waard.
The company is worth more than a trillion.
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 biljoen” rather than as “biljoen” 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.