de of het pensioenfonds?
het pensioenfonds
pension fund
noun · /pɛnˈʃunˌfɔnts/
It is “het pensioenfonds”. The plural is “de pensioenfondsen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: pensioenfonds
Forms
- Article
- het pensioenfonds
- Plural
- de pensioenfondsen
- Diminutive
- het pensioenfondsje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het pensioenfonds beheert miljoenen euro's.
The pension fund manages millions of euros.
Zij werkt bij een groot pensioenfonds.
She works for a large pension fund.
Pensioenfondsen investeren vaak in vastgoed.
Pension funds often invest in real estate.
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 pensioenfonds” rather than as “pensioenfonds” 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.