de of het onderkruipsel?
het onderkruipsel
midget
noun · /ˈɔn.dərˌkrœy̯p.səl/
It is “het onderkruipsel”. The plural is “de onderkruipsels”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: onderkruipsel
Forms
- Article
- het onderkruipsel
- Plural
- de onderkruipsels
- Diminutive
- het onderkruipseltje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het onderkruipsel stond bij de deur.
The midget stood by the door.
Ik zag het onderkruipsel in de menigte.
I saw the midget in the crowd.
Dat onderkruipsel was verrassend sterk.
That midget was surprisingly strong.
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 onderkruipsel” rather than as “onderkruipsel” 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.