de of het ongemak?
het ongemak
inconvenience
noun
It is “het ongemak”. The plural is “de ongemakken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: ongemak
Forms
- Article
- het ongemak
- Plural
- de ongemakken
- Diminutive
- het ongemakje
- Also means
- unease, discomfort, flaw, defect
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het ongemak van de harde stoel was duidelijk.
The discomfort of the hard chair was clear.
Dit kleine ongemak is snel opgelost.
This small inconvenience is quickly resolved.
Mijn late komst veroorzaakte enig ongemak.
My late arrival caused some inconvenience.
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 ongemak” rather than as “ongemak” 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.