de of het oproer?
het oproer
uproar
noun · /ˈɔp.rur/
It is “het oproer”. The plural is “de oproeren”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: oproer
Forms
- Article
- het oproer
- Plural
- de oproeren
- Diminutive
- het oproertje
- Also means
- riot, tumult, upheaval
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het nieuws veroorzaakte veel oproer.
The news caused a lot of uproar.
De menigte was in oproer.
The crowd was in uproar.
De politie bedwong snel het oproer.
The police quickly quelled the uproar.
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 oproer” rather than as “oproer” 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.