de of het dromenland?
het dromenland
dreamland
noun · /ˈdroː.mə(n)ˌlɑnt/
It is “het dromenland”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: dromenland
Forms
- Article
- het dromenland
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Nadat het licht uitging waren ze met een paar minuten in dromenland.
After the lights went out, they were in dreamland within minutes.
Hij viel in slaap en was direct in dromenland.
He fell asleep and was immediately in dreamland.
De baby slaapt diep, vast in dromenland.
The baby sleeps deeply, firmly in dreamland.
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 dromenland” rather than as “dromenland” 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.