de of het klif?
het klif
cliff
noun · /klɪf/
It is “het klif”. The plural is “de kliffen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: klif
Forms
- Article
- het klif
- Plural
- de kliffen
- Diminutive
- het klifje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het klif is erg hoog.
The cliff is very high.
We liepen langs het klif.
We walked past the cliff.
De kliffen zijn prachtig om te zien.
The cliffs are beautiful to see.
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 klif” rather than as “klif” 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.