de of het christendom?
het christendom
Christianity
noun · /ˈkrɪs.tən.dɔm/
It is “het christendom”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: christendom
Forms
- Article
- het christendom
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het christendom is een grote wereldreligie.
Christianity is a major world religion.
De kunst in Europa is beïnvloed door het christendom.
Art in Europe has been influenced by Christianity.
Hij studeert de geschiedenis van het christendom.
He studies the history of Christianity.
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 christendom” rather than as “christendom” 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.