de of het avontuur?
het avontuur
adventure
noun · /aːvɔnˈtyr/
It is “het avontuur”. The plural is “de avonturen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: avontuur
Forms
- Article
- het avontuur
- Plural
- de avonturen
- Diminutive
- het avontuurtje
- How common
- among the 5,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Die reis was een groot avontuur.
That trip was a big adventure.
Ze zijn altijd op zoek naar avontuur.
They are always looking for adventure.
Ben je klaar voor het avontuur?
Are you ready for the adventure?
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 avontuur” rather than as “avontuur” 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.