de of het kruiswoordpuzzel?
het kruiswoordpuzzel
crossword
noun
It is “het kruiswoordpuzzel”. The plural is “de kruiswoordpuzzels”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kruiswoordpuzzel
Forms
- Article
- het kruiswoordpuzzel
- Plural
- de kruiswoordpuzzels
- Diminutive
- het kruiswoordpuzzeltje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik maak graag een kruiswoordpuzzel.
I like doing a crossword.
Het kruiswoordpuzzel in de krant is moeilijk.
The crossword in the newspaper is difficult.
We kunnen samen het kruiswoordpuzzel oplossen.
We can solve the crossword together.
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 kruiswoordpuzzel” rather than as “kruiswoordpuzzel” 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.