de of het voetpad?
het voetpad
footpath
noun · /ˈvutpɑt/
It is “het voetpad”. The plural is “de voetpaden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: voetpad
Forms
- Article
- het voetpad
- Plural
- de voetpaden
- Diminutive
- het voetpaadje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het voetpad was bedekt met herfstbladeren.
The footpath was covered with autumn leaves.
We liepen over het voetpad naast de rivier.
We walked on the footpath beside the river.
Het voetpad leidt je naar het oude kasteel.
The footpath will lead you to the old castle.
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 voetpad” rather than as “voetpad” 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.