de of het kroost?
het kroost
offspring
noun · /kroːst/
It is “het kroost”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kroost
Forms
- Article
- het kroost
- Also means
- brood
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het kroost van mijn zus is erg energiek.
My sister's offspring is very energetic.
Ik neem mijn kroost mee naar het park.
I'm taking my offspring to the park.
Overal speelde vrolijk kroost in de tuin.
Everywhere cheerful offspring played in the garden.
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 kroost” rather than as “kroost” 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.