de of het evenwicht?
het evenwicht
balance
noun · /ˈeː.və(n)ˌʋɪxt/
It is “het evenwicht”. The plural is “de evenwichten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: evenwicht
Forms
- Article
- het evenwicht
- Plural
- de evenwichten
- Diminutive
- het evenwichtje
- Also means
- equilibrium
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Ik verloor mijn evenwicht en viel bijna.
I lost my balance and almost fell.
Het is belangrijk voor je mentale evenwicht.
It is important for your mental balance.
De storm verstoorde het evenwicht in de natuur.
The storm disturbed the balance in nature.
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 evenwicht” rather than as “evenwicht” 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.