de of het middenveld?
het middenveld
midfield
noun
It is “het middenveld”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: middenveld
Forms
- Article
- het middenveld
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het middenveld van Ajax is erg sterk.
Ajax's midfield is very strong.
Hij speelt het liefst op het middenveld.
He prefers to play in midfield.
Het middenveld controleert vaak het spel.
The midfield often controls the game.
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 middenveld” rather than as “middenveld” 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.