de of het rothumeur?
het rothumeur
rotten mood
noun · /ˈrɔt.ɦyˌmøːr/
It is “het rothumeur”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: rothumeur
Forms
- Article
- het rothumeur
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij heeft vandaag een rothumeur.
He's in a rotten mood today.
Dat rothumeur verpest de hele dag.
That rotten mood spoils the whole day.
Waarom heb jij zo'n rothumeur?
Why are you in such a rotten mood?
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 rothumeur” rather than as “rothumeur” 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.