de of het bisdom?
het bisdom
bishopric
noun · /ˈbɪs.dɔm/
It is “het bisdom”. The plural is “de bisdommen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: bisdom
Forms
- Article
- het bisdom
- Plural
- de bisdommen
- Diminutive
- het bisdommetje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het bisdom Utrecht is erg oud.
The bishopric of Utrecht is very old.
De parochie valt onder het bisdom.
The parish falls under the bishopric.
De bisschop bestuurt het bisdom.
The bishop governs the bishopric.
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 bisdom” rather than as “bisdom” 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.