de of het abonnement?
het abonnement
subscription
noun · /ˌɑ.bɔ.nəˈmɛnt/
It is “het abonnement”. The plural is “de abonnementen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: abonnement
Forms
- Article
- het abonnement
- Plural
- de abonnementen
- Diminutive
- het abonnementje
- Also means
- season ticket
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik heb een abonnement op Netflix.
I have a subscription to Netflix.
Kun je het abonnement opzeggen?
Can you cancel the subscription?
Het abonnement is elke maand te duur.
The subscription is too expensive every month.
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 abonnement” rather than as “abonnement” 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.