de of het bladerdak?
het bladerdak
canopy
noun · /ˈblaːdərdɑk/
It is “het bladerdak”. The plural is “de bladerdaken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: bladerdak
Forms
- Article
- het bladerdak
- Plural
- de bladerdaken
- Diminutive
- het bladerdakje
- Also means
- topmost foliage
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
We liepen onder het dichte bladerdak.
We walked under the dense canopy.
Het bladerdak was al mooi groen.
The canopy was already beautifully green.
Het bladerdak gaf ons fijne schaduw.
The canopy gave us nice shade.
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 bladerdak” rather than as “bladerdak” 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.