de of het mozaïek?
het mozaïek
mosaic
noun · /ˌmoː.zaːˈik/
It is “het mozaïek”. The plural is “de mozaïeken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: mozaïek
Forms
- Article
- het mozaïek
- Plural
- de mozaïeken
- Diminutive
- het mozaïekje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
We zagen een prachtig mozaïek in de hal.
We saw a beautiful mosaic in the hall.
Zij maakt zelf een klein mozaïek voor de tuin.
She is making a small mosaic herself for the garden.
Het antieke mozaïek toonde Romeinse goden.
The ancient mosaic depicted Roman gods.
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 mozaïek” rather than as “mozaïek” 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.