de of het mensenleven?
het mensenleven
human life
noun · /ˈmɛn.sə(n)ˌleː.və(n)/
It is “het mensenleven”. The plural is “de mensenlevens”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: mensenleven
Forms
- Article
- het mensenleven
- Plural
- de mensenlevens
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Een mensenleven is kostbaar.
A human life is precious.
Dit ongeval kostte een mensenleven.
This accident cost a human life.
In een mensenleven leer je veel.
In a human life, you learn a lot.
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 mensenleven” rather than as “mensenleven” 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.