de of het opperhoofd?
het opperhoofd
chief
noun · /ˈɔ.pərˌɦoːft/
It is “het opperhoofd”. The plural is “de opperhoofden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: opperhoofd
Forms
- Article
- het opperhoofd
- Plural
- de opperhoofden
- Diminutive
- het opperhoofdje
- Also means
- tribal chief, chieftain, paramount chief, pope
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij is het opperhoofd van de stam.
He is the chief of the tribe.
Het opperhoofd nam een belangrijk besluit.
The chief made an important decision.
Iedereen luisterde aandachtig naar het opperhoofd.
Everyone listened attentively to the chief.
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 opperhoofd” rather than as “opperhoofd” 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.