de of het burgerschap?
het burgerschap
citizenship
noun · /ˈbʏr.ɣərˌsxɑp/
It is “het burgerschap”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: burgerschap
Forms
- Article
- het burgerschap
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij vroeg het Nederlandse burgerschap aan.
He applied for Dutch citizenship.
Zij kan haar burgerschap verliezen.
She can lose her citizenship.
Burgerschap brengt rechten en plichten met zich mee.
Citizenship brings rights and duties with it.
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 burgerschap” rather than as “burgerschap” 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.