de of het evangelie?
het evangelie
gospel
noun · /ˌeː.vɑŋˈɣeː.li/
It is “het evangelie”. The plural is “de evangeliën”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: evangelie
Forms
- Article
- het evangelie
- Plural
- de evangeliën
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het evangelie verspreidt zich over de wereld.
The gospel spreads across the world.
Lees je vaak in het evangelie van Johannes?
Do you often read in the Gospel of John?
Zijn woorden waren het evangelie voor ons.
His words were gospel for us.
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 evangelie” rather than as “evangelie” 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.