de of het fotomodel?
het fotomodel
photographic model
noun · /ˈfoː.toː.moːˌdɛl/
It is “het fotomodel”. The plural is “de fotomodellen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: fotomodel
Forms
- Article
- het fotomodel
- Plural
- de fotomodellen
- Diminutive
- het fotomodelletje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het fotomodel lachte naar de camera.
The photographic model smiled at the camera.
Mijn zus droomt ervan fotomodel te worden.
My sister dreams of becoming a photographic model.
De fotograaf werkte met een nieuw fotomodel.
The photographer worked with a new photographic model.
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 fotomodel” rather than as “fotomodel” 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.