de of het ooglid?
het ooglid
eyelid
noun · /ˈoːx.lɪt/
It is “het ooglid”. The plural is “de oogleden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: ooglid
Forms
- Article
- het ooglid
- Plural
- de oogleden
- Diminutive
- het ooglidje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik voel een jeuk aan mijn ooglid.
I feel an itch on my eyelid.
Zijn ooglid was rood en gezwollen.
His eyelid was red and swollen.
Veeg het vuil van je ooglid.
Wipe the dirt from your eyelid.
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 ooglid” rather than as “ooglid” 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.