de of het huisdier?
het huisdier
domestic animal
noun · /ˈɦœy̯s.diːr/
It is “het huisdier”. The plural is “de huisdieren”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: huisdier
Forms
- Article
- het huisdier
- Plural
- de huisdieren
- Diminutive
- het huisdiertje
- Also means
- pet
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Wij hebben een nieuw huisdier.
We have a new pet.
Mijn kat is een lief huisdier.
My cat is a sweet pet.
Een huisdier vraagt veel aandacht.
A pet requires a lot of attention.
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 huisdier” rather than as “huisdier” 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.