de of het hoofdvak?
het hoofdvak
major subject
noun · /ˈɦoːft.fɑk/
It is “het hoofdvak”. The plural is “de hoofdvakken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: hoofdvak
Forms
- Article
- het hoofdvak
- Plural
- de hoofdvakken
- Diminutive
- het hoofdvakje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Mijn hoofdvak is informatica.
My major is computer science.
Welk hoofdvak ga jij kiezen?
Which major will you choose?
Zij studeert psychologie als hoofdvak.
She studies psychology as her major.
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 hoofdvak” rather than as “hoofdvak” 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.