de of het kiesdistrict?
het kiesdistrict
constituency
noun · /ˈkis.dɪsˌtrɪkt/
It is “het kiesdistrict”. The plural is “de kiesdistricten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kiesdistrict
Forms
- Article
- het kiesdistrict
- Plural
- de kiesdistricten
- Diminutive
- het kiesdistrictje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Elk land is verdeeld in verschillende kiesdistricten voor verkiezingsdoeleinden.
Each country is divided into different constituencies for electoral representation.
In welk kiesdistrict woon je en wie zijn de kandidaten daar?
In which constituency do you live, and who are the candidates there?
De grenzen van de kiesdistricten worden soms herzien om een eerlijke vertegenwoordiging te waarborgen.
The boundaries of the constituencies are sometimes revised to ensure fair representation.
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 kiesdistrict” rather than as “kiesdistrict” 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.