de of het onvermogen?
het onvermogen
incapacity
noun · /ˈɔn.vərˈmoːɣə(n)/
It is “het onvermogen”. The plural is “de onvermogens”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: onvermogen
Forms
- Article
- het onvermogen
- Plural
- de onvermogens
- Diminutive
- het onvermogentje
- Also means
- inability
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik voel mijn onvermogen om dit te begrijpen.
I feel my inability to understand this.
Zijn onvermogen om te luisteren irriteerde me.
His inability to listen irritated me.
Door zijn onvermogen ging het mis.
Due to his inability, it went wrong.
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 onvermogen” rather than as “onvermogen” 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.