de of het ongeloof?
het ongeloof
disbelief
noun
It is “het ongeloof”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: ongeloof
Forms
- Article
- het ongeloof
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Zijn beweringen werden met ongeloof ontvangen door de meeste mensen.
His claims were met with disbelief by most people.
De getuigenis van de ooggetuige zorgde voor groot ongeloof bij het publiek.
The eyewitness testimony caused great disbelief among the audience.
Het ongeloof was groot na het nieuws.
The disbelief was great after the news.
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 ongeloof” rather than as “ongeloof” 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.