de of het krot?
het krot
hovel
noun · /krɔt/
It is “het krot”. The plural is “de krotten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: krot
Forms
- Article
- het krot
- Plural
- de krotten
- Diminutive
- het krotje
- Also means
- derelict, rudimentary house, shanty
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het krot staat al jaren leeg.
The derelict building has been empty for years.
Ze wonen al jaren in een krot.
They have been living in a hovel for years.
Wanneer wordt dat krot gesloopt?
When will that derelict building be demolished?
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 krot” rather than as “krot” 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.