de of het bovenlichaam?
het bovenlichaam
upper body
noun · /ˈboː.və(n)ˌlɪ.xaːm/
It is “het bovenlichaam”. The plural is “de bovenlichamen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: bovenlichaam
Forms
- Article
- het bovenlichaam
- Plural
- de bovenlichamen
- Diminutive
- het bovenlichaampje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij traint zijn bovenlichaam in de sportschool.
He trains his upper body at the gym.
Na de val deed haar bovenlichaam pijn.
After the fall, her upper body hurt.
Ze droeg een T-shirt over haar bovenlichaam.
She wore a T-shirt over her upper body.
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 bovenlichaam” rather than as “bovenlichaam” 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.