de of het kinderziekenhuis?
het kinderziekenhuis
children's hospital
noun · /ˈkɪn.dərˌzi.kə(n).ɦœy̯s/
It is “het kinderziekenhuis”. The plural is “de kinderziekenhuizen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kinderziekenhuis
Forms
- Article
- het kinderziekenhuis
- Plural
- de kinderziekenhuizen
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het kinderziekenhuis is gesloten op feestdagen.
The children's hospital is closed on holidays.
We bezochten het kinderziekenhuis gisteren.
We visited the children's hospital yesterday.
Breng het kind naar het kinderziekenhuis.
Bring the child to the children's hospital.
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 kinderziekenhuis” rather than as “kinderziekenhuis” 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.