de of het ritme?
het ritme
rhythm
noun · /ˈrɪt.mə/
It is “het ritme”. The plural is “de ritmen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: ritme
Forms
- Article
- het ritme
- Plural
- de ritmen
- Diminutive
- het ritmetje
- Also means
- beat
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Het ritme van de muziek was aanstekelijk.
The rhythm of the music was infectious.
Ik zoek een nieuw ritme in mijn leven.
I am looking for a new rhythm in my life.
Zijn hartritme was onregelmatig en snel.
His heart rhythm was irregular and fast.
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 ritme” rather than as “ritme” 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.