de of het avondmaal?
het avondmaal
dinner
noun · /ˈaː.vɔntˌmaːl/
It is “het avondmaal”. The plural is “de avondmalen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: avondmaal
Forms
- Article
- het avondmaal
- Plural
- de avondmalen
- Diminutive
- het avondmaaltje
- Also means
- supper, evening meal
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het avondmaal staat klaar.
Dinner is ready.
Hoe laat beginnen we met het avondmaal?
What time do we start dinner?
Het avondmaal was heerlijk vanavond.
Dinner was delicious tonight.
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 avondmaal” rather than as “avondmaal” 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.