de of het lef?
het lef
courage
noun · /lɛf/
It is “het lef”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: lef
Forms
- Article
- het lef
- Also means
- bravery, daring, temerity, gall rashness, audacity
- How common
- among the 3,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Hij had het lef om zijn excuses aan te bieden.
He had the courage to apologize.
Zij heeft niet genoeg lef voor deze baan.
She doesn't have enough courage for this job.
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 lef” rather than as “lef” 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.