de of het hoofdgerecht?
het hoofdgerecht
main course
noun · /ˈɦoːf(t)xəˌrɛxt/
It is “het hoofdgerecht”. The plural is “de hoofdgerechten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: hoofdgerecht
Forms
- Article
- het hoofdgerecht
- Plural
- de hoofdgerechten
- Diminutive
- het hoofdgerechtje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik neem het hoofdgerecht met vis.
I'll take the main course with fish.
Kunnen we het hoofdgerecht bestellen?
Can we order the main course?
Het hoofdgerecht was erg lekker.
The main course was very tasty.
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 hoofdgerecht” rather than as “hoofdgerecht” 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.