de of het kuiken?
het kuiken
chick
noun · /ˈkœy̯.kə(n)/
It is “het kuiken”. The plural is “de kuikens”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kuiken
Forms
- Article
- het kuiken
- Plural
- de kuikens
- Diminutive
- het kuikentje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het kleine kuiken piept vrolijk.
The small chick chirps happily.
De kuikens rennen over het erf.
The chicks run across the yard.
Het kuiken volgt zijn moeder overal.
The chick follows its mother everywhere.
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 kuiken” rather than as “kuiken” 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.