de of het grasveld?
het grasveld
field
noun · /ˈɣrɑsvɛlt/
It is “het grasveld”. The plural is “de grasvelden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: grasveld
Forms
- Article
- het grasveld
- Plural
- de grasvelden
- Diminutive
- het grasveldje
- Also means
- lawn
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De kinderen spelen op het grasveld.
The children are playing on the field.
Hij maait het grasveld elke zaterdag.
He mows the field every Saturday.
Het grasveld van het park is groen.
The park's field is green.
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 grasveld” rather than as “grasveld” 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.