de of het machtsvertoon?
het machtsvertoon
show of force
noun · /ˈmɑxts.fɛrˌtoːn/
It is “het machtsvertoon”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: machtsvertoon
Forms
- Article
- het machtsvertoon
- Also means
- show of strength, power display
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De politie arriveerde met veel machtsvertoon.
The police made a great show of power when they arrived.
Het machtsvertoon van de vloot was indrukwekkend.
The fleet's show of force was impressive.
Ze zagen het als puur machtsvertoon.
They saw it as a pure show of force.
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 machtsvertoon” rather than as “machtsvertoon” 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.