de of het obstakel?
het obstakel
obstacle
noun · /ˌɔpˈstaː.kəl/
It is “het obstakel”. The plural is “de obstakels”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: obstakel
Forms
- Article
- het obstakel
- Plural
- de obstakels
- Diminutive
- het obstakeltje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Er lag een boom als obstakel op het pad.
There was a tree as an obstacle on the path.
Angst kan een groot obstakel zijn.
Fear can be a big obstacle.
Hij heeft elk obstakel overwonnen.
He has overcome every obstacle.
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 obstakel” rather than as “obstakel” 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.