de of het bouwwerk?
het bouwwerk
building
noun · /ˈbɑu̯.ʋɛrk/
It is “het bouwwerk”. The plural is “de bouwwerken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: bouwwerk
Forms
- Article
- het bouwwerk
- Plural
- de bouwwerken
- Diminutive
- het bouwwerkje
- Also means
- construction
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het bouwwerk is erg oud.
The building is very old.
Ze zagen een bijzonder bouwwerk.
They saw a special building.
Veel oude bouwwerken zijn beschermd.
Many old structures are protected.
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 bouwwerk” rather than as “bouwwerk” 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.