de of het oerwoud?
het oerwoud
jungle
noun · /ˈur.ʋɑu̯t/
It is “het oerwoud”. The plural is “de oerwouden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: oerwoud
Forms
- Article
- het oerwoud
- Plural
- de oerwouden
- Diminutive
- het oerwoudje
- Also means
- primeval, virgin forest
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Veel exotische dieren leven in het oerwoud.
Many exotic animals live in the jungle.
Onze achtertuin is bijna een oerwoud geworden.
Our backyard has almost become a jungle.
Ze wilden graag een echt oerwoud bezoeken.
They really wanted to visit a real jungle.
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 oerwoud” rather than as “oerwoud” 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.