de of het trottoir?
het trottoir
sidewalk
noun · /trɔˈtʋaːr/
It is “het trottoir”. The plural is “de trottoirs”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: trottoir
Forms
- Article
- het trottoir
- Plural
- de trottoirs
- Diminutive
- het trottoirtje
- Also means
- pavement, footpath
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
We lopen op het trottoir.
We are walking on the sidewalk.
Er staat een fiets op het trottoir.
There is a bicycle on the sidewalk.
Parkeer je scooter niet op het trottoir.
Don't park your scooter on the sidewalk.
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 trottoir” rather than as “trottoir” 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.