de of het taalgebruik?
het taalgebruik
language use
noun · /ˈtaːl.ɣəˌbrœy̯k/
It is “het taalgebruik”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: taalgebruik
Forms
- Article
- het taalgebruik
- Also means
- linguistic usage
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het taalgebruik van de spreker was helder.
The speaker's language use was clear.
Let op je taalgebruik in formele situaties.
Pay attention to your language use in formal situations.
Zijn taalgebruik is de laatste tijd verbeterd.
His language use has improved recently.
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 taalgebruik” rather than as “taalgebruik” 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.