de of het paardenrennen?
het paardenrennen
horse racing
noun · /ˈpaːr.də(n)ˌrɛ.nə(n)/
It is “het paardenrennen”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: paardenrennen
Forms
- Article
- het paardenrennen
- Also means
- horse race
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Paardenrennen is zijn grootste hobby.
Horse racing is his biggest hobby.
Ze wedden vaak op paardenrennen.
They often bet on horse racing.
Een dagje paardenrennen is erg leuk.
A day of horse racing is a lot of fun.
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 paardenrennen” rather than as “paardenrennen” 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.