de of het arrangement?
het arrangement
musical arrangement
noun · /ˌɑ.rɑn.ʒəˈmɛnt/
It is “het arrangement”. The plural is “de arrangementen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: arrangement
Forms
- Article
- het arrangement
- Plural
- de arrangementen
- Diminutive
- het arrangementje
- Also means
- package deal
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik vind dit arrangement erg mooi.
I find this arrangement very beautiful.
De componist werkt aan een nieuw arrangement.
The composer is working on a new arrangement.
Dit is een arrangement voor koor en piano.
This is an arrangement for choir and piano.
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 arrangement” rather than as “arrangement” 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.