de of het leedvermaak?
het leedvermaak
schadenfreude
noun · /ˈleːt.vərˌmaːk/
It is “het leedvermaak”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: leedvermaak
Forms
- Article
- het leedvermaak
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Soms is leedvermaak onvermijdelijk.
Sometimes schadenfreude is unavoidable.
Hij voelde een vleugje leedvermaak.
He felt a touch of schadenfreude.
Haar leedvermaak was duidelijk te zien.
Her schadenfreude was clearly visible.
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 leedvermaak” rather than as “leedvermaak” 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.