de of het doodvonnis?
het doodvonnis
death sentence
noun · /ˈdoːtˌfɔ.nɪs/
It is “het doodvonnis”. The plural is “de doodvonnissen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: doodvonnis
Forms
- Article
- het doodvonnis
- Plural
- de doodvonnissen
- Diminutive
- het doodvonnisje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De rechter sprak het doodvonnis uit.
The judge pronounced the death sentence.
In veel landen bestaat het doodvonnis nog steeds.
In many countries, the death sentence still exists.
Hij kreeg het doodvonnis voor zijn misdaden.
He received the death sentence for his crimes.
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 doodvonnis” rather than as “doodvonnis” 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.