de of het elftal?
het elftal
team
noun · /ˈɛlf.tɑl/
It is “het elftal”. The plural is “de elftallen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: elftal
Forms
- Article
- het elftal
- Plural
- de elftallen
- Diminutive
- het elftalletje
- Also means
- group of eleven, usually human beings, team of eleven
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het elftal speelde een goede wedstrijd.
The team played a good match.
De trainer selecteerde een sterk elftal.
The coach selected a strong team.
Ons elftal is klaar voor de wedstrijd.
Our team is ready for the match.
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 elftal” rather than as “elftal” 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.