de of het aartsbisdom?
het aartsbisdom
archdiocese
noun · /ˈaːrtsˌbɪs.dɔm/
It is “het aartsbisdom”. The plural is “de aartsbisdommen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: aartsbisdom
Forms
- Article
- het aartsbisdom
- Plural
- de aartsbisdommen
- Diminutive
- het aartsbisdommetje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het aartsbisdom Utrecht is erg oud.
The Archdiocese of Utrecht is very old.
De nieuwe pastoor bezoekt het aartsbisdom.
The new pastor visits the archdiocese.
Deze parochie behoort tot het aartsbisdom.
This parish belongs to the archdiocese.
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 aartsbisdom” rather than as “aartsbisdom” 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.