de of het organisme?
het organisme
biological organism
noun · /ˌɔr.ɣaːˈnɪs.mə/
It is “het organisme”. The plural is “de organismen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: organisme
Forms
- Article
- het organisme
- Plural
- de organismen
- Diminutive
- het organismetje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Elk organisme heeft water nodig.
Every organism needs water.
Dit kleine organisme leeft in de grond.
This small organism lives in the soil.
Een plant is een levend organisme.
A plant is a living organism.
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 organisme” rather than as “organisme” 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.