de of het niemandsland?
het niemandsland
no man's land
noun · /ˈni.mɑntsˌlɑnt/
It is “het niemandsland”. The plural is “de niemandslanden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: niemandsland
Forms
- Article
- het niemandsland
- Plural
- de niemandslanden
- Diminutive
- het niemandslandje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het niemandsland tussen de landen was gevaarlijk.
The no man's land between the countries was dangerous.
Hij voelde zich in een soort niemandsland.
He felt like he was in a kind of no man's land.
Dit oude gebouw lijkt wel niemandsland.
This old building really looks like no man's land.
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 niemandsland” rather than as “niemandsland” 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.