de of het complot?
het complot
conspiracy
noun · /kɔmˈplɔt/
It is “het complot”. The plural is “de complotten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: complot
Forms
- Article
- het complot
- Plural
- de complotten
- Diminutive
- het complotje
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Hij gelooft in een geheim complot.
He believes in a secret conspiracy.
Ze smeden een complot tegen de leider.
They are forging a conspiracy against the leader.
Het complot werd gisteren ontmaskerd.
The conspiracy was unmasked yesterday.
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 complot” rather than as “complot” 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.