de of het onkruid?
het onkruid
weed
noun · /ˈɔŋ.krœy̯t/
It is “het onkruid”. The plural is “de onkruiden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: onkruid
Forms
- Article
- het onkruid
- Plural
- de onkruiden
- Diminutive
- het onkruidje
- Also means
- weeds
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik haal het onkruid uit de tuin.
I remove the weed from the garden.
Onkruid groeit snel, vooral na regen.
Weeds grow fast, especially after rain.
De tuin stond vol met onkruid.
The garden was full of weeds.
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 onkruid” rather than as “onkruid” 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.