de of het kraakpand?
het kraakpand
squat
noun
It is “het kraakpand”. The plural is “de kraakpanden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kraakpand
Forms
- Article
- het kraakpand
- Plural
- de kraakpanden
- Diminutive
- het kraakpandje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het kraakpand is al jaren bewoond.
The squat has been occupied for years.
De politie ontruimde het kraakpand vanochtend.
The police evicted the squat this morning.
Ik vind het kraakpand een interessante plek.
I find the squat an interesting place.
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 kraakpand” rather than as “kraakpand” 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.