de of het studiejaar?
het studiejaar
academic year
noun · /ˈsty.di.jaːr/
It is “het studiejaar”. The plural is “de studiejaren”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: studiejaar
Forms
- Article
- het studiejaar
- Plural
- de studiejaren
- Diminutive
- het studiejaartje
- Also means
- synonym of leerjaar
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het studiejaar begint in september.
The academic year starts in September.
Vorig studiejaar was erg druk.
Last academic year was very busy.
Mijn studiejaar begint pas laat.
My academic year only starts late.
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 studiejaar” rather than as “studiejaar” 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.