de of het lijf?
het lijf
body
noun · /lɛi̯f/
It is “het lijf”. The plural is “de lijven”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: lijf
Forms
- Article
- het lijf
- Plural
- de lijven
- Diminutive
- het lijfje
- Also means
- corsage, field, division ring
- How common
- among the 3,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Ik voel me niet zo lekker in mijn lijf vandaag.
I don't feel so great in my body today.
Beweging is gezond voor het hele lijf.
Exercise is healthy for the whole body.
Hij heeft een sterk lijf door al het sporten.
He has a strong body from all the sports.
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 lijf” rather than as “lijf” 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.