de of het onheil?
het onheil
misfortune
noun · /ˈɔn.ɦɛi̯l/
It is “het onheil”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: onheil
Forms
- Article
- het onheil
- Also means
- disaster
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De storm bracht veel onheil.
The storm brought much misfortune.
Ik voelde dat er onheil naderde.
I felt that misfortune was approaching.
Laten we dit onheil voorkomen.
Let's prevent this misfortune.
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 onheil” rather than as “onheil” 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.