de of het schroot?
het schroot
scrap
noun · /sxroːt/
It is “het schroot”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: schroot
Forms
- Article
- het schroot
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij verzamelt oud ijzer en ander schroot.
He collects old iron and other scrap.
Het schroot gaat naar de recycling.
The scrap goes to recycling.
Er ligt veel schroot op het terrein.
There is a lot of scrap on the premises.
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 schroot” rather than as “schroot” 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.