de of het levensonderhoud?
het levensonderhoud
livelihood
noun · /ˈleː.və(n)s.ɔn.dərˌɦɑu̯t/
It is “het levensonderhoud”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: levensonderhoud
Forms
- Article
- het levensonderhoud
- Also means
- sustenance
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij werkt hard voor zijn levensonderhoud.
He works hard for his livelihood.
Het levensonderhoud is duur in deze stad.
The cost of living is expensive in this city.
Zij verloor haar levensonderhoud door de crisis.
She lost her livelihood due to the crisis.
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 levensonderhoud” rather than as “levensonderhoud” 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.