de of het evenbeeld?
het evenbeeld
counterpart
noun · /ˈeː.və(n)ˌbeːlt/
It is “het evenbeeld”. The plural is “de evenbeelden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: evenbeeld
Forms
- Article
- het evenbeeld
- Plural
- de evenbeelden
- Diminutive
- het evenbeeldje
- Also means
- likeness, spitting image
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De directeur sprak met zijn evenbeeld uit Duitsland.
The director spoke with his counterpart from Germany.
Dit product heeft geen evenbeeld op de markt.
This product has no counterpart on the market.
Zij is het evenbeeld van haar moeder.
She is the spitting image of her mother.
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 evenbeeld” rather than as “evenbeeld” 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.