de of het overblijfsel?
het overblijfsel
remainder
noun · /ˈoː.vərˌblɛi̯f.səl/
It is “het overblijfsel”. The plural is “de overblijfselen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: overblijfsel
Forms
- Article
- het overblijfsel
- Plural
- de overblijfselen
- Diminutive
- het overblijfseltje
- Also means
- vestige, remnant
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het overblijfsel van de maaltijd ging de koelkast in.
The remainder of the meal went into the fridge.
Dit is het overblijfsel van een oude muur.
This is the remainder of an old wall.
Haar angst was een overblijfsel van die ervaring.
Her fear was a remnant of that experience.
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 overblijfsel” rather than as “overblijfsel” 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.