de of het weeshuis?
het weeshuis
orphanage
noun · /ˈʋeːs.ɦœy̯s/
It is “het weeshuis”. The plural is “de weeshuizen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: weeshuis
Forms
- Article
- het weeshuis
- Plural
- de weeshuizen
- Diminutive
- het weeshuisje
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Sommige weeshuizen zijn Dickensiaanse beerputten van kindermishandeling.
Some orphanages are Dickensian cesspools of child abuse.
Het weeshuis is al jaren leeg.
The orphanage has been empty for years.
Mijn tante werkt in het weeshuis.
My aunt works in the orphanage.
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 weeshuis” rather than as “weeshuis” 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.