de of het overlevingsinstinct?
het overlevingsinstinct
survival instinct
noun · /ˌoː.vərˈleː.vɪŋs.ɪnˌstɪŋ(k)t/
It is “het overlevingsinstinct”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: overlevingsinstinct
Forms
- Article
- het overlevingsinstinct
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het overlevingsinstinct is sterk.
The survival instinct is strong.
Zijn overlevingsinstinct nam het over.
His survival instinct took over.
Door haar overlevingsinstinct bleef ze kalm.
Because of her survival instinct, she remained calm.
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 overlevingsinstinct” rather than as “overlevingsinstinct” 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.