de of het heelal?
het heelal
universe
noun · /ɦeːˈlɑl/
It is “het heelal”. The plural is “de heelallen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: heelal
Forms
- Article
- het heelal
- Plural
- de heelallen
- Diminutive
- het heelalletje
- How common
- among the 5,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Het heelal is enorm groot.
The universe is enormously big.
Er zijn miljarden sterrenstelsels in het heelal.
There are billions of galaxies in the universe.
De mens bestudeert het heelal al eeuwen.
Mankind has been studying the universe for centuries.
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 heelal” rather than as “heelal” 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.