de of het koraalrif?
het koraalrif
coral reef
noun · /koːˈraːlˌrɪf/
It is “het koraalrif”. The plural is “de koraalriffen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: koraalrif
Forms
- Article
- het koraalrif
- Plural
- de koraalriffen
- Diminutive
- het koraalrifje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het koraalrif is een belangrijk ecosysteem.
The coral reef is an important ecosystem.
We hebben gisteren bij het koraalrif gesnorkeld.
We snorkeled near the coral reef yesterday.
Veel kleurrijke vissen wonen in dit koraalrif.
Many colorful fish live in this coral reef.
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 koraalrif” rather than as “koraalrif” 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.