de of het zintuig?
het zintuig
sense
noun · /ˈzɪn.tœy̯x/
It is “het zintuig”. The plural is “de zintuigen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: zintuig
Forms
- Article
- het zintuig
- Plural
- de zintuigen
- Diminutive
- het zintuigje
- Also means
- sense organ
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Mensen hebben vijf bekende zintuigen.
Humans have five known senses.
Het reukzintuig is heel gevoelig bij katten.
The sense of smell is very sensitive in cats.
De geur prikkelde al mijn zintuigen.
The smell stimulated all my senses.
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 zintuig” rather than as “zintuig” 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.