de of het heil?
het heil
prosperity
noun · /ɦɛi̯l/
It is “het heil”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: heil
Forms
- Article
- het heil
- Also means
- salvation
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Dit beleid draagt bij aan het heil van ons land.
This policy contributes to the prosperity of our country.
Is dit plan echt voor het heil van de burgers?
Is this plan truly for the prosperity of the citizens?
We hopen op meer heil in de toekomst.
We hope for more prosperity in the future.
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 heil” rather than as “heil” 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.