de of het klimaat?
het klimaat
climate
noun · /kliˈmaːt/
It is “het klimaat”. The plural is “de klimaten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: klimaat
Forms
- Article
- het klimaat
- Plural
- de klimaten
- Diminutive
- het klimaatje
- Also means
- long-term weather type, mentality
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Het klimaat verandert snel.
The climate is changing fast.
Het klimaat in Spanje is warmer.
The climate in Spain is warmer.
Door het klimaat groeien hier geen palmbomen.
Because of the climate, no palm trees grow here.
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 klimaat” rather than as “klimaat” 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.