de of het booreiland?
het booreiland
drilling rig
noun · /ˈboːr.ɛi̯ˌlɑnt/
It is “het booreiland”. The plural is “de booreilanden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: booreiland
Forms
- Article
- het booreiland
- Plural
- de booreilanden
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het booreiland ligt ver op zee.
The drilling rig is far out at sea.
Mijn oom werkt op een booreiland.
My uncle works on a drilling rig.
Dit is een groot booreiland.
This is a large drilling rig.
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 booreiland” rather than as “booreiland” 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.