de of het vrachtschip?
het vrachtschip
cargo ship
noun · /ˈvrɑxt.sxɪp/
It is “het vrachtschip”. The plural is “de vrachtschepen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: vrachtschip
Forms
- Article
- het vrachtschip
- Plural
- de vrachtschepen
- Diminutive
- het vrachtscheepje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het vrachtschip vaart over de oceaan.
The cargo ship sails across the ocean.
Daar komt een groot vrachtschip aan.
There's a large cargo ship approaching.
De haven ontving gisteren een nieuw vrachtschip.
The port received a new cargo ship yesterday.
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 vrachtschip” rather than as “vrachtschip” 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.