de of het weeskind?
het weeskind
orphaned child
noun · /ˈʋeːs.kɪnt/
It is “het weeskind”. The plural is “de weeskinderen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: weeskind
Forms
- Article
- het weeskind
- Plural
- de weeskinderen
- Diminutive
- het weeskindje
- Also means
- underage orphan
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het weeskind speelde alleen in de tuin.
The orphan played alone in the garden.
Veel weeskinderen vonden een nieuw thuis.
Many orphans found a new home.
De familie adopteerde een weeskind uit het tehuis.
The family adopted an orphan from 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 weeskind” rather than as “weeskind” 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.