de of het buitenverblijf?
het buitenverblijf
country house
noun · /ˈbœy̯.tə(n).vərˌblɛi̯f/
It is “het buitenverblijf”. The plural is “de buitenverblijven”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: buitenverblijf
Forms
- Article
- het buitenverblijf
- Plural
- de buitenverblijven
- Diminutive
- het buitenverblijfje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Wij hebben een mooi buitenverblijf.
We have a beautiful country house.
Het buitenverblijf ligt midden in de natuur.
The country house is located in the middle of nature.
In het weekend gaan we naar ons buitenverblijf.
On the weekend, we go to our country house.
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 buitenverblijf” rather than as “buitenverblijf” 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.