de of het merg?
het merg
marrow
noun · /mɛrx/
It is “het merg”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: merg
Forms
- Article
- het merg
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het merg in de botten is essentieel.
The marrow in the bones is essential.
Zij was tot op het merg vermoeid.
She was exhausted to the core.
Het zachte merg van de plant is eetbaar.
The soft pith of the plant is edible.
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 merg” rather than as “merg” 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.