de of het boegbeeld?
het boegbeeld
figurehead
noun · /ˈbux.beːlt/
It is “het boegbeeld”. The plural is “de boegbeelden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: boegbeeld
Forms
- Article
- het boegbeeld
- Plural
- de boegbeelden
- Diminutive
- het boegbeeldje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Zij is het boegbeeld van de partij.
She is the figurehead of the party.
Het boegbeeld sprak de fans toe.
The figurehead addressed the fans.
Hij werd het boegbeeld van de groep.
He became the figurehead of the group.
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 boegbeeld” rather than as “boegbeeld” 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.