de of het kattenkwaad?
het kattenkwaad
vexatious conduct
noun · /ˈkɑtə(ŋ)kʋaːt/
It is “het kattenkwaad”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kattenkwaad
Forms
- Article
- het kattenkwaad
- Also means
- mischief
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De kinderen haalden veel kattenkwaad uit.
The children got up to a lot of mischief.
Geen kattenkwaad uithalen, hoor!
Don't get into any mischief, okay!
Hij zat vroeger vol kattenkwaad.
He used to be full of mischief.
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 kattenkwaad” rather than as “kattenkwaad” 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.