de of het kopstuk?
het kopstuk
bigwig
noun · /ˈkɔp.stʏk/
It is “het kopstuk”. The plural is “de kopstukken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kopstuk
Forms
- Article
- het kopstuk
- Plural
- de kopstukken
- Diminutive
- het kopstukje
- Also means
- chief, leader, protagonist
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het kopstuk van de organisatie werd gearresteerd.
The chief of the organization was arrested.
Ze zagen het kopstuk tijdens de vergadering.
They saw the leader during the meeting.
De kopstukken bespraken het plan.
The key figures discussed the plan.
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 kopstuk” rather than as “kopstuk” 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.