de of het kerstfeest?
het kerstfeest
Christmas
noun · /ˈkɛrstˌfeːst/
It is “het kerstfeest”. The plural is “de kerstfeesten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kerstfeest
Forms
- Article
- het kerstfeest
- Plural
- de kerstfeesten
- Diminutive
- het kerstfeestje
- How common
- among the 5,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Het kerstfeest is een tijd van samenzijn.
Christmas is a time for togetherness.
Wij vieren het kerstfeest altijd thuis.
We always celebrate Christmas at home.
Ik wens je een vrolijk kerstfeest.
I wish you a merry Christmas.
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 kerstfeest” rather than as “kerstfeest” 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.