de of het kalifaat?
het kalifaat
caliphate
noun · /ˌkaː.liˈfaːt/
It is “het kalifaat”. The plural is “de kalifaten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kalifaat
Forms
- Article
- het kalifaat
- Plural
- de kalifaten
- Diminutive
- het kalifaatje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het kalifaat was een groot rijk.
The caliphate was a large empire.
Velen droomden van een nieuw kalifaat.
Many dreamed of a new caliphate.
De kalief leidde het kalifaat.
The caliph led the caliphate.
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 kalifaat” rather than as “kalifaat” 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.