de of het sieraad?
het sieraad
ornament
noun · /ˈsi.raːt/
It is “het sieraad”. The plural is “de sieraden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: sieraad
Forms
- Article
- het sieraad
- Plural
- de sieraden
- Diminutive
- het sieraadje
- Also means
- piece of jewellery
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Dit gouden kettinkje is een prachtig sieraad.
This little golden necklace is a beautiful ornament.
Zij draagt altijd een bijzonder sieraad.
She always wears a special ornament.
De broche was een klein, maar waardevol sieraad.
The brooch was a small, but valuable ornament.
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 sieraad” rather than as “sieraad” 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.