de of het zuidwesten?
het zuidwesten
southwest
noun · /ˌzœy̯tˈʋɛs.tə(n)/
It is “het zuidwesten”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: zuidwesten
Forms
- Article
- het zuidwesten
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De wind komt uit het zuidwesten.
The wind comes from the southwest.
Het zuidwesten van het land is groen.
The southwest of the country is green.
We reizen morgen naar het zuidwesten.
We are traveling to the southwest tomorrow.
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 zuidwesten” rather than as “zuidwesten” 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.