de of het ziekenhuis?
het ziekenhuis
hospital
noun · /ˈzi.kə(n).ɦœy̯s/
It is “het ziekenhuis”. The plural is “de ziekenhuizen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: ziekenhuis
Forms
- Article
- het ziekenhuis
- Plural
- de ziekenhuizen
- Diminutive
- het ziekenhuisje
- Also means
- medical care facility, infirmary
- How common
- among the 1,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Hij moet naar het ziekenhuis.
He has to go to the hospital.
Mijn oma ligt in het ziekenhuis.
My grandma is in the hospital.
Is het ziekenhuis ver van hier?
Is the hospital far from here?
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 ziekenhuis” rather than as “ziekenhuis” 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.