de of het dodental?
het dodental
death toll
noun · /ˈdoː.də(n)ˌtɑl/
It is “het dodental”. The plural is “de dodentallen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: dodental
Forms
- Article
- het dodental
- Plural
- de dodentallen
- Also means
- number of deaths, death tally
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het dodental van de ramp ligt boven de honderd.
The number of deaths as a result of the disaster exceeds one hundred.
Het dodental door de aardbeving stijgt snel.
The death toll from the earthquake is rising quickly.
Het officiële dodental is nu 50.
The official death toll is now 50.
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 dodental” rather than as “dodental” 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.