de of het stekelvarken?
het stekelvarken
porcupine
noun · /ˈsteːkəlˌvɑrkə(n)/
It is “het stekelvarken”. The plural is “de stekelvarkens”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: stekelvarken
Forms
- Article
- het stekelvarken
- Plural
- de stekelvarkens
- Diminutive
- het stekelvarkentje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het stekelvarken heeft scherpe stekels.
The porcupine has sharp quills.
Ik zag gisteren een stekelvarken op televisie.
I saw a porcupine on television yesterday.
Een stekelvarken verdedigt zich met zijn stekels.
A porcupine defends itself with its quills.
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 stekelvarken” rather than as “stekelvarken” 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.