de of het brandgevaar?
het brandgevaar
fire hazard
noun · /ˈbrɑnt.xəˌvaːr/
It is “het brandgevaar”. The plural is “de brandgevaren”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: brandgevaar
Forms
- Article
- het brandgevaar
- Plural
- de brandgevaren
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Roken is hier verboden wegens brandgevaar.
Smoking is forbidden here due to fire hazard.
Het brandgevaar is in het bos erg hoog.
The fire hazard in the forest is very high.
Ruim dat op om brandgevaar te voorkomen.
Clean that up to prevent fire hazard.
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 brandgevaar” rather than as “brandgevaar” 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.