de of het mededogen?
het mededogen
mercy
noun · /ˈmeː.dəˌdoː.ɣə(n)/
It is “het mededogen”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: mededogen
Forms
- Article
- het mededogen
- Also means
- compassion, pity
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ze voelde diep mededogen voor de dakloze man.
She felt deep compassion for the homeless man.
De rechter toonde geen enkel mededogen.
The judge showed no mercy at all.
Waar is het mededogen in deze wereld gebleven?
Where has the compassion in this world gone?
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 mededogen” rather than as “mededogen” 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.