de of het oponthoud?
het oponthoud
delay
noun · /ˈɔp.ɔntˌɦɑu̯t/
It is “het oponthoud”. The plural is “de oponthouden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: oponthoud
Forms
- Article
- het oponthoud
- Plural
- de oponthouden
- Diminutive
- het oponthoudje
- Also means
- relent
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Er was helaas wat oponthoud.
Unfortunately, there was some delay.
Het oponthoud zorgde voor een late aankomst.
The delay caused a late arrival.
Verwachten we nog veel oponthoud op de route?
Do we still expect much delay on the route?
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 oponthoud” rather than as “oponthoud” 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.