de of het fantoom?
het fantoom
phantom
noun · /fɑnˈtoːm/
It is “het fantoom”. The plural is “de fantomen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: fantoom
Forms
- Article
- het fantoom
- Plural
- de fantomen
- Diminutive
- het fantoompje
- Also means
- apparition, ghost, figment, mirage, product of fantasy
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Veel mensen beweren een fantoom te hebben gezien in het oude kasteel.
Many people claim to have seen a phantom in the old castle.
In de mist leek het schip een fantoom te zijn.
In the fog, the ship appeared to be a ghost.
Het kind was bang voor de fantomen onder zijn bed.
The child was afraid of the apparitions under his bed.
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 fantoom” rather than as “fantoom” 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.