de of het collegegeld?
het collegegeld
tuition fees
noun · /kɔˈleːʒəˌɣɛlt/
It is “het collegegeld”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: collegegeld
Forms
- Article
- het collegegeld
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het collegegeld moet voor 1 september betaald zijn.
The tuition fees must be paid before September 1st.
Hoeveel is het collegegeld dit jaar?
How much are the tuition fees this year?
Ik heb het collegegeld nog niet betaald.
I haven't paid the tuition fees yet.
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 collegegeld” rather than as “collegegeld” 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.