de of het feestbeest?
het feestbeest
party animal
noun · /ˈfeːstˌbeːst/
It is “het feestbeest”. The plural is “de feestbeesten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: feestbeest
Forms
- Article
- het feestbeest
- Plural
- de feestbeesten
- Diminutive
- het feestbeestje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ja, flexibele werktijden is wel echt iets voor zo'n feestbeest als jij.
Yes, flexible work hours is really something for a party animal like you.
Hij is echt een feestbeest.
He is truly a party animal.
Als het weekend is, verandert zij in een feestbeest.
When it's the weekend, she turns into a party animal.
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 feestbeest” rather than as “feestbeest” 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.