de of het luchtruim?
het luchtruim
airspace
noun · /ˈlʏxt.rœy̯m/
It is “het luchtruim”. The plural is “de luchtruimen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: luchtruim
Forms
- Article
- het luchtruim
- Plural
- de luchtruimen
- Diminutive
- het luchtruimpje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het vliegtuig vloog door het Nederlands luchtruim.
The plane flew through Dutch airspace.
De luchtverkeersleiding bewaakt het luchtruim constant.
Air traffic control constantly monitors the airspace.
Vanwege mist is het luchtruim gesloten.
Due to fog, the airspace is closed.
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 luchtruim” rather than as “luchtruim” 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.