de of het uitspansel?
het uitspansel
firmament
noun
It is “het uitspansel”. The plural is “de uitspansels”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: uitspansel
Forms
- Article
- het uitspansel
- Plural
- de uitspansels
- Diminutive
- het uitspanseltje
- Also means
- heaven, sky, welkin
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
We zagen veel sterren in het uitspansel.
We saw many stars in the firmament.
Het uitspansel was helder en blauw vandaag.
The firmament was clear and blue today.
De vogels vlogen hoog tegen het uitspansel.
The birds flew high against the firmament.
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 uitspansel” rather than as “uitspansel” 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.