de of het nakie?
het nakie
nude
noun · /ˈnaː.ki/
It is “het nakie”. The plural is “de nakies”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: nakie
Forms
- Article
- het nakie
- Plural
- de nakies
- Also means
- naked state, birthday suit
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
In je nakie over straat lopen is mogelijk geen goed idee.
Walking on the street in your birthday suit may not be a good idea.
Het nakie lag op bed.
The nude lay on the bed.
Het kleine nakie rende door de tuin.
The little nude ran through the garden.
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 nakie” rather than as “nakie” 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.