Gender in Dutch Grammar - Neuter Nouns (Het-words)

Neuter Nouns (Het-words)

• Diminutive nouns (recognizable by je, kje, pje, tje or etje after the stem). Note this holds even when the referent is obviously male or female, e.g. meisje (girl):

bloempje (little flower)

lammetje (little lamb)

• Names of towns, countries, languages:

Brussel (Brussels)

Nederland (the Netherlands)

Frans (French)

• Words ending with -isme:

Socialisme (socialism)

Vandalisme (vandalism)

• Latin loans in -um:

museum (museum)

unicum (unique event or aspect)

There is one notable exception, datum (date), which is masculine (and has both a "regular" plural in datums and the original Latin neuter plural in data).

• Greek loans in -ma:

thema (theme)

panorama (scenic view)