de of het eufemisme?
het eufemisme
euphemism
noun · /ˌœy̯.feːˈmɪs.mə/
It is “het eufemisme”. The plural is “de eufemismen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: eufemisme
Forms
- Article
- het eufemisme
- Plural
- de eufemismen
- Diminutive
- het eufemismetje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Dat woord is een duidelijk eufemisme.
That word is a clear euphemism.
We vermijden de waarheid met een eufemisme.
We avoid the truth with a euphemism.
Er zijn veel eufemismen voor ouderdom.
There are many euphemisms for old age.
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 eufemisme” rather than as “eufemisme” 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.