de of het moederschap?
het moederschap
motherhood
noun
It is “het moederschap”. The plural is “de moederschappen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: moederschap
Forms
- Article
- het moederschap
- Plural
- de moederschappen
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het moederschap brengt veel vreugde.
Motherhood brings much joy.
Ze geniet volop van het moederschap.
She fully enjoys motherhood.
Zij ervaart het moederschap als een zegen.
She experiences motherhood as a blessing.
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 moederschap” rather than as “moederschap” 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.