de of het vasteland?
het vasteland
mainland
noun · /ˌvɑs.təˈlɑnt/
It is “het vasteland”. The plural is “de vastelanden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: vasteland
Forms
- Article
- het vasteland
- Plural
- de vastelanden
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Een brug verbindt het eiland met het vasteland.
A bridge connects the island to the mainland.
Ze vaart morgen terug naar het vasteland.
She sails back to the mainland tomorrow.
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 vasteland” rather than as “vasteland” 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.