de of het hoornvlies?
het hoornvlies
cornea
noun
It is “het hoornvlies”. The plural is “de hoornvliezen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: hoornvlies
Forms
- Article
- het hoornvlies
- Plural
- de hoornvliezen
- Diminutive
- het hoornvliesje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het hoornvlies is de voorkant van je oog.
The cornea is the front of your eye.
Het hoornvlies beschermt je oog tegen vuil.
The cornea protects your eye from dirt.
Ik heb jeuk aan mijn hoornvlies.
My cornea is itchy.
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 hoornvlies” rather than as “hoornvlies” 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.