de of het drugsmisbruik?
het drugsmisbruik
drug abuse
noun · /ˈdrʏɡs.mɪsˌbrœy̯k/
It is “het drugsmisbruik”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: drugsmisbruik
Forms
- Article
- het drugsmisbruik
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Drugsmisbruik is een groot probleem.
Drug abuse is a big problem.
Ze proberen drugsmisbruik te voorkomen.
They try to prevent drug abuse.
Armoede kan leiden tot drugsmisbruik.
Poverty can lead to drug abuse.
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 drugsmisbruik” rather than as “drugsmisbruik” 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.