de of het jodendom?
het jodendom
Judaism
noun · /ˈjoː.də(n)ˌdɔm/
It is “het jodendom”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: jodendom
Forms
- Article
- het jodendom
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het jodendom is een heel oude religie.
Judaism is a very old religion.
Ze leert veel over het jodendom.
She learns a lot about Judaism.
Het jodendom heeft een rijke geschiedenis.
Judaism has a rich history.
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 jodendom” rather than as “jodendom” 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.