de of het zwaard?
het zwaard
sword
noun · /zʋaːrt/
It is “het zwaard”. The plural is “de zwaarden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: zwaard
Forms
- Article
- het zwaard
- Plural
- de zwaarden
- Diminutive
- het zwaardje
- Also means
- heavy blade weapon, leeboard
- How common
- among the 2,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Het zwaard glimt in de zon.
The sword gleams in the sun.
De ridder trok zijn zwaard.
The knight drew his sword.
Is dit een echt zwaard of speelgoed?
Is this a real sword or a toy?
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 zwaard” rather than as “zwaard” 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.