de of het kernafval?
het kernafval
nuclear waste
noun · /ˈkɛrn.ɑˌfɑl/
It is “het kernafval”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kernafval
Forms
- Article
- het kernafval
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Kernafval is gevaarlijk en blijft dat lang.
Nuclear waste is dangerous and remains so for a long time.
We moeten het kernafval veilig opslaan.
We must store the nuclear waste safely.
Er is nog geen definitieve oplossing voor kernafval.
There is still no definitive solution for nuclear waste.
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 kernafval” rather than as “kernafval” 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.