de of het hoofdgebouw?
het hoofdgebouw
main building
noun · /ˈɦoːft.xəˌbɑu̯/
It is “het hoofdgebouw”. The plural is “de hoofdgebouwen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: hoofdgebouw
Forms
- Article
- het hoofdgebouw
- Plural
- de hoofdgebouwen
- Diminutive
- het hoofdgebouwtje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het hoofdgebouw is het eerste gebouw dat u ziet.
The main building is the first building you see.
We moeten naar het hoofdgebouw lopen voor de vergadering.
We need to walk to the main building for the meeting.
Alle belangrijke kantoren bevinden zich in het hoofdgebouw.
All important offices are located in the main building.
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 hoofdgebouw” rather than as “hoofdgebouw” 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.