de of het erfdeel?
het erfdeel
inheritance
noun
It is “het erfdeel”. The plural is “de erfdelen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: erfdeel
Forms
- Article
- het erfdeel
- Plural
- de erfdelen
- Diminutive
- het erfdeeltje
- Also means
- heritage, patrimony
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Onze geschiedenis is een rijk erfdeel.
Our history is a rich heritage.
Wij koesteren ons cultureel erfdeel.
We cherish our cultural heritage.
Deze traditie hoort bij ons erfdeel.
This tradition belongs to our heritage.
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 erfdeel” rather than as “erfdeel” 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.