de of het perceel?
het perceel
parcel of land
noun · /pɛrˈseːl/
It is “het perceel”. The plural is “de percelen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: perceel
Forms
- Article
- het perceel
- Plural
- de percelen
- Diminutive
- het perceeltje
- Also means
- plot, building premises
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het perceel is te koop.
The parcel of land is for sale.
Ons perceel heeft veel zon.
Our parcel of land gets a lot of sun.
Ze bouwen een huis op het perceel.
They are building a house on the parcel.
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 perceel” rather than as “perceel” 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.