de of het lover?
het lover
foliage
noun · /ˈloː.vər/
It is “het lover”. The plural is “de lovers”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: lover
Forms
- Article
- het lover
- Plural
- de lovers
- Diminutive
- het lovertje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het lover is prachtig groen.
The foliage is beautifully green.
De wind ruist door het lover.
The wind rustles through the foliage.
Overal lag verdroogd lover.
Dried foliage lay 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 lover” rather than as “lover” 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.