de of het dierenrijk?
het dierenrijk
animal kingdom
noun · /ˈdiː.rə(n)ˌrɛi̯k/
It is “het dierenrijk”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: dierenrijk
Forms
- Article
- het dierenrijk
- Also means
- regnum animalia
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het dierenrijk is enorm divers.
The animal kingdom is enormously diverse.
We bestuderen de wonderen van het dierenrijk.
We study the wonders of the animal kingdom.
De leeuw is een indrukwekkend dier uit het dierenrijk.
The lion is an impressive animal from the animal kingdom.
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 dierenrijk” rather than as “dierenrijk” 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.