de of het onderbewustzijn?
het onderbewustzijn
subconscious
noun
It is “het onderbewustzijn”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: onderbewustzijn
Forms
- Article
- het onderbewustzijn
- Also means
- subconsciousness
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De angst zat diep in het onderbewustzijn.
The fear was deep in the subconscious.
Het onderbewustzijn stuurt veel van onze keuzes.
The subconscious directs many of our choices.
Dromen komen vaak uit het onderbewustzijn.
Dreams often come from the subconscious.
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 onderbewustzijn” rather than as “onderbewustzijn” 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.