de of het koraal?
het koraal
coral
noun · /koːˈraːl/
It is “het koraal”. The plural is “de koralen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: koraal
Forms
- Article
- het koraal
- Plural
- de koralen
- Diminutive
- het koraaltje
- Also means
- bead made from, male chorister, choir singer, choir boy, chorale
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Veel vissen leven tussen het koraal.
Many fish live among the coral.
Ze draagt een ketting van koraal.
She is wearing a coral necklace.
De duiker zag prachtig koraal.
The diver saw beautiful coral.
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 koraal” rather than as “koraal” 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.