de of het reuzenrad?
het reuzenrad
Ferris wheel
noun
It is “het reuzenrad”. The plural is “de reuzenraderen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: reuzenrad
Forms
- Article
- het reuzenrad
- Plural
- de reuzenraderen
- Diminutive
- het reuzenradje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het reuzenrad staat op de kermis.
The Ferris wheel is at the fair.
Zullen we in het reuzenrad gaan?
Shall we go on the Ferris wheel?
Vanaf het reuzenrad zag je de hele stad.
From the Ferris wheel you saw the whole city.
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 reuzenrad” rather than as “reuzenrad” 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.