de of het hakenkruis?
het hakenkruis
swastika
noun · /ˈɦaː.kə(n)ˌkrœy̯s/
It is “het hakenkruis”. The plural is “de hakenkruizen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: hakenkruis
Forms
- Article
- het hakenkruis
- Plural
- de hakenkruizen
- Diminutive
- het hakenkruisje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het hakenkruis is een nazisymbool.
The swastika is a Nazi symbol.
Hij zag een hakenkruis op de oude muur.
He saw a swastika on the old wall.
Het tonen van het hakenkruis is verboden.
Displaying the swastika is forbidden.
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 hakenkruis” rather than as “hakenkruis” 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.