de of het priemgetal?
het priemgetal
prime number
noun
It is “het priemgetal”. The plural is “de priemgetallen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: priemgetal
Forms
- Article
- het priemgetal
- Plural
- de priemgetallen
- Diminutive
- het priemgetalletje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Twee is het kleinste priemgetal.
Two is the smallest prime number.
Is vijftien een priemgetal?
Is fifteen a prime number?
Er zijn veel grote priemgetallen.
There are many large prime numbers.
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 priemgetal” rather than as “priemgetal” 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.