de of het veldwerk?
het veldwerk
fieldwork
noun · /ˈvɛlt.ʋɛrk/
It is “het veldwerk”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: veldwerk
Forms
- Article
- het veldwerk
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ze doen veel veldwerk voor hun onderzoek.
They do a lot of fieldwork for their research.
Het veldwerk vindt plaats in de bergen.
The fieldwork takes place in the mountains.
Dit veldwerk was erg leerzaam voor de studenten.
This fieldwork was very educational for the students.
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 veldwerk” rather than as “veldwerk” 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.