de of het roofdier?
het roofdier
predator
noun · /ˈroːf.diːr/
It is “het roofdier”. The plural is “de roofdieren”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: roofdier
Forms
- Article
- het roofdier
- Plural
- de roofdieren
- Diminutive
- het roofdiertje
- Also means
- predatory species, ruthless person, carnivore, carnivoran
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De leeuw is een groot roofdier.
The lion is a large predatory species.
Veel roofdieren jagen 's nachts.
Many predatory species hunt at night.
Het roofdier besprong zijn prooi.
The predatory animal pounced on its prey.
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 roofdier” rather than as “roofdier” 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.