de of het zeewier?
het zeewier
seaweed
noun · /ˈzeː.ʋir/
It is “het zeewier”. The plural is “de zeewieren”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: zeewier
Forms
- Article
- het zeewier
- Plural
- de zeewieren
- Diminutive
- het zeewiertje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Er ligt veel zeewier op het strand.
There is a lot of seaweed on the beach.
Sushi wordt vaak met zeewier gemaakt.
Sushi is often made with seaweed.
Na de storm rook de kust naar zeewier.
After the storm, the coast smelled of seaweed.
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 zeewier” rather than as “zeewier” 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.