de of het leefgebied?
het leefgebied
habitat
noun · /ˈleːf.xəˌbit/
It is “het leefgebied”. The plural is “de leefgebieden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: leefgebied
Forms
- Article
- het leefgebied
- Plural
- de leefgebieden
- Diminutive
- het leefgebiedje
- Also means
- territory, residential area, living space
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het leefgebied van de panda is klein.
The habitat of the panda is small.
De bouw vernietigt hun leefgebied snel.
The construction quickly destroys their habitat.
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 leefgebied” rather than as “leefgebied” 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.