de of het oorlogsgebied?
het oorlogsgebied
war zone
noun · /ˈoːr.lɔxs.xəˌbit/
It is “het oorlogsgebied”. The plural is “de oorlogsgebieden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: oorlogsgebied
Forms
- Article
- het oorlogsgebied
- Plural
- de oorlogsgebieden
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Dit land is officieel een oorlogsgebied.
This country is officially a war zone.
Ze vluchtten weg uit het oorlogsgebied.
They fled away from the war zone.
De hulpgoederen bereikten het oorlogsgebied niet.
The aid supplies did not reach the war zone.
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 oorlogsgebied” rather than as “oorlogsgebied” 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.