de of het lijkenhuis?
het lijkenhuis
mortuary
noun · /ˈlɛi̯.kə(n)ˌɦœy̯s/
It is “het lijkenhuis”. The plural is “de lijkenhuizen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: lijkenhuis
Forms
- Article
- het lijkenhuis
- Plural
- de lijkenhuizen
- Diminutive
- het lijkenhuisje
- Also means
- morgue
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Het lichaam werd naar het lijkenhuis gebracht.
The body was brought to the mortuary.
Het lijkenhuis is een stil en somber gebouw.
The mortuary is a quiet and somber building.
Ze wachtten buiten het lijkenhuis op nieuws.
They waited outside the mortuary for news.
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 lijkenhuis” rather than as “lijkenhuis” 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.