de of het leeghoofd?
het leeghoofd
airhead
noun · /ˈleːx.ɦoːft/
It is “het leeghoofd”. The plural is “de leeghoofden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: leeghoofd
Forms
- Article
- het leeghoofd
- Plural
- de leeghoofden
- Diminutive
- het leeghoofdje
- Also means
- birdbrain
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Mijn broer is soms echt een leeghoofd.
My brother is sometimes really an airhead.
Het leeghoofd vergat zijn afspraak helemaal.
The airhead completely forgot his appointment.
Waarom luistert niemand naar dat leeghoofd?
Why does nobody listen to that airhead?
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 leeghoofd” rather than as “leeghoofd” 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.