de of het brandhout?
het brandhout
firewood
noun · /ˈbrɑnt.ɦɑu̯t/
It is “het brandhout”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: brandhout
Forms
- Article
- het brandhout
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het halve bos is gekapt voor brandhout.
Half the forest has been cut down for firewood.
Het brandhout ligt klaar voor de winter.
The firewood is ready for winter.
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 brandhout” rather than as “brandhout” 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.