de of het opschrift?
het opschrift
inscription
noun · /ˈɔp.sxrɪft/
It is “het opschrift”. The plural is “de opschriften”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: opschrift
Forms
- Article
- het opschrift
- Plural
- de opschriften
- Diminutive
- het opschriftje
- Also means
- superscription, caption
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het opschrift op de doos was onleesbaar.
The inscription on the box was illegible.
Ik las het opschrift op de plaquette aandachtig.
I read the inscription on the plaque carefully.
Wat staat er op het opschrift van die fles?
What does the inscription on that bottle say?
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 opschrift” rather than as “opschrift” 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.