"Het paard"

Translation: The horse

[xx4522xx]

It definitely sounds like there is an "s" sound at the end of paard here. Is this a mispronunciation or is it correct?

[Simius]

There should be no "s" sound in "paard". The pronunciation can be a little wonky sometimes.

[PachaTchernof]

I think it's /d/ at the end of words and after /r/ sounds like /s/, but it isn't.
I usually use forvo.com for checking like that. See http://en.forvo.com/word/paard/#nl

[AntonRusland]

Спасибо за ссылку.

[PachaTchernof]

Пожалуйста.
Отличный юзерпик, Antoon van den Rus :)

[MarGiummarra]

How do I know if I have to use "het" or "de" with the animals?

[Lavinae]

You need to memorize the correct article, but there are some pointers. :)

First, if a diminutive is used, such as the 'little horse', it will be a 'het' word.
Second, if the animal name is gender specific, such as 'the bull', there is a greater chance that you're dealing with a 'de' word.

[sylmondd]

"Het is for horses"

[JewishPolyglot]

Sounds kinda like the Yiddish "Ferd" (ya I know, it's Pferd in German)

[deathofthewest]

Of course. Dutch and German (and thus Yiddish, since Yiddish is mostly German) are quite similar, and share many linguistic roots.

[Gabby336176]

How does paard sound anything like horse in english? I know its a different language but with most of these words, it sounds faily simulaur to the english version. Does anybody agree? Its highly confusing me.

[Katzenperson]

"Paard" is so different from the English "horse" or the Latin "equus". I wonder what its origin is (or why in English we say "horse"!)

[Katzenperson]

Okay, I found the answer to my own question.

Here's the path:
Modern Dutch paard < Late Latin paraveredus "post horse for outlying districts" (6th c.), originally "extra horse," < Greek para "beside, secondary" + Latin veredus "fast, light horse used by couriers". (Possibly the Latin word came from Gaulish voredos, from Celtic wo-red.)

Apparently, Middle Dutch had the word ors which sounds like the English horse, but paard overtook it.

Paard has the same Latin origin as the English word palfrey which refers to a horse for riding (not a war horse or draft horse).

https://www.directdutch.com/2014/02/word-of-the-day-paard-horse/
https://www.etymonline.com/word/palfrey
http://www.etymologiebank.nl/trefwoord/paard

That last link I read in translation as I cannot yet read Dutch very well!