de of het kaarslicht?
het kaarslicht
candlelight
noun · /ˈkaːrslɪxt/
It is “het kaarslicht”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kaarslicht
Forms
- Article
- het kaarslicht
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Dineren bij kaarslicht is romantisch.
Dining by candlelight is romantic.
Het kaarslicht gaf de kamer een warme gloed.
The candlelight gave the room a warm glow.
Tijdens de stroomstoring gebruikten we kaarslicht.
During the power outage, we used candlelight.
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 kaarslicht” rather than as “kaarslicht” 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.