de of het netvlies?
het netvlies
retina
noun · /ˈnɛtvlis/
It is “het netvlies”. The plural is “de netvliezen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: netvlies
Forms
- Article
- het netvlies
- Plural
- de netvliezen
- Diminutive
- het netvliesje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Licht valt op het netvlies.
Light falls on the retina.
Hij heeft schade aan zijn netvlies.
He has damage to his retina.
Een laserbehandeling kan het netvlies redden.
A laser treatment can save the retina.
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 netvlies” rather than as “netvlies” 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.