de of het zuiden?
het zuiden
south
noun · /ˈzœy̯.də(n)/
It is “het zuiden”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: zuiden
Forms
- Article
- het zuiden
- Also means
- southern, from the south
- How common
- among the 3,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Ze wonen in het zuiden van het land.
They live in the south of the country.
We rijden naar het zuiden.
We are driving south.
Het huis staat in het zuiden van de stad.
The house is in the south of the city.
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 zuiden” rather than as “zuiden” 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.