de of het ornaat?
het ornaat
priestly vestment
noun · /ɔrˈnaːt/
It is “het ornaat”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: ornaat
Forms
- Article
- het ornaat
- Also means
- pageantry, ornamentation
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De priester trok zijn ornaat aan.
The priest put on his vestment.
Het ornaat was gemaakt van zijde.
The vestment was made of silk.
Ze bewonderden het oude ornaat.
They admired the old vestment.
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 ornaat” rather than as “ornaat” 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.