de of het eelt?
het eelt
callus
noun · /eːlt/
It is “het eelt”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: eelt
Forms
- Article
- het eelt
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik heb eelt op mijn hielen.
I have calluses on my heels.
Zwaar werk veroorzaakt vaak eelt op de handen.
Heavy work often causes calluses on the hands.
Dat harde eelt beschermt je huid.
That hard callus protects your skin.
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 eelt” rather than as “eelt” 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.