de of het rotsblok?
het rotsblok
boulder
noun · /ˈrɔts.blɔk/
It is “het rotsblok”. The plural is “de rotsblokken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: rotsblok
Forms
- Article
- het rotsblok
- Plural
- de rotsblokken
- Diminutive
- het rotsblokje
- Also means
- piece, mass of rock
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het rotsblok was te zwaar om te tillen.
The boulder was too heavy to lift.
Een groot rotsblok blokkeerde de weg.
A large boulder blocked the road.
Ze zaten op een warm rotsblok.
They sat on a warm boulder.
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 rotsblok” rather than as “rotsblok” 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.