de of het wegdek?
het wegdek
road surface
noun · /ˈʋɛx.dɛk/
It is “het wegdek”. The plural is “de wegdekken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: wegdek
Forms
- Article
- het wegdek
- Plural
- de wegdekken
- Diminutive
- het wegdekje
- Also means
- pavement, paving
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het wegdek is erg glad vandaag.
The pavement is very slippery today.
Ze vernieuwen het wegdek in de straat.
They are renewing the pavement in the street.
Ik voelde de trillingen van het wegdek.
I felt the vibrations from the pavement.
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 wegdek” rather than as “wegdek” 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.