de of het petekind?
het petekind
godchild
noun · /ˈpeː.təˌkɪnt/
It is “het petekind”. The plural is “de petekinderen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: petekind
Forms
- Article
- het petekind
- Plural
- de petekinderen
- Diminutive
- het petekindje
- Also means
- godkid
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Mijn petekind is nu zes jaar.
My godchild is now six years old.
Ik geef een cadeau aan het petekind.
I'm giving a gift to the godchild.
We bezoeken het petekind dit weekend.
We are visiting the godchild this weekend.
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 petekind” rather than as “petekind” 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.