de of het orakel?
het orakel
oracle
noun · /ˌoːˈraː.kəl/
It is “het orakel”. The plural is “de orakels”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: orakel
Forms
- Article
- het orakel
- Plural
- de orakels
- Diminutive
- het orakeltje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het orakel gaf een vreemde voorspelling.
The oracle gave a strange prediction.
Zij is het orakel van de groep.
She is the oracle of the group.
Velen bezochten het orakel voor advies.
Many visited the oracle for advice.
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 orakel” rather than as “orakel” 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.