de of het suikerriet?
het suikerriet
sugar cane
noun
It is “het suikerriet”. The plural is “de suikerrieten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: suikerriet
Forms
- Article
- het suikerriet
- Plural
- de suikerrieten
- Diminutive
- het suikerrietje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Suikerriet groeit in warme landen.
Sugar cane grows in warm countries.
Van suikerriet maakt men rum.
Rum is made from sugar cane.
We zagen een veld vol suikerriet.
We saw a field full of sugar cane.
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 suikerriet” rather than as “suikerriet” 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.