de of het drijfzand?
het drijfzand
quicksand
noun · /ˈdrɛi̯f.sɑnt/
It is “het drijfzand”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: drijfzand
Forms
- Article
- het drijfzand
- Also means
- treacherous, tricky danger, risk
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij kwam in drijfzand terecht en wist zich met moeite eruit te bevrijden.
He landed in quicksand and extricated himself from it only with difficulty.
Hij zakte weg in het drijfzand.
He sank into the quicksand.
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 drijfzand” rather than as “drijfzand” 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.