de of het homohuwelijk?
het homohuwelijk
same-sex marriage
noun
It is “het homohuwelijk”. The plural is “de homohuwelijken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: homohuwelijk
Forms
- Article
- het homohuwelijk
- Plural
- de homohuwelijken
- Diminutive
- het homohuwelijkje
- Also means
- gay marriage, same-sex wedding
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Sinds 2001 is het homohuwelijk in Nederland wettelijk toegestaan.
Since 2001, same-sex marriage is legally permitted in the Netherlands.
Er zijn vandaag vier homohuwelijken gesloten.
Four same-sex weddings have been conducted today.
Het homohuwelijk is in veel landen geaccepteerd.
Same-sex marriage is accepted in many countries.
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 homohuwelijk” rather than as “homohuwelijk” 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.