de of het slijk?
het slijk
mud
noun · /slɛi̯k/
It is “het slijk”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: slijk
Forms
- Article
- het slijk
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het slijk plakt aan mijn schoenen.
The mud sticks to my shoes.
Na de regen was alles bedekt met slijk.
After the rain, everything was covered in mud.
Pas op, je glijdt uit in het slijk.
Watch out, you'll slip in the mud.
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 slijk” rather than as “slijk” 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.