de of het natuurwet?
het natuurwet
natural law
noun · /naːˈtyːrˌʋɛt/
It is “het natuurwet”. The plural is “de natuurwetten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: natuurwet
Forms
- Article
- het natuurwet
- Plural
- de natuurwetten
- Also means
- law of nature, physical law, environmental law
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Een natuurwet geldt altijd en overal.
A natural law always applies everywhere.
De zwaartekracht is een natuurwet.
Gravity is a natural law.
Je kunt een natuurwet niet breken.
You cannot break a natural law.
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 natuurwet” rather than as “natuurwet” 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.