de of het proefschrift?
het proefschrift
thesis
noun · /ˈpruf.sxrɪft/
It is “het proefschrift”. The plural is “de proefschriften”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: proefschrift
Forms
- Article
- het proefschrift
- Plural
- de proefschriften
- Diminutive
- het proefschriftje
- Also means
- dissertation
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij werkt nog aan zijn proefschrift.
He is still working on his thesis.
Het proefschrift gaat over kunstmatige intelligentie.
The thesis is about artificial intelligence.
Ze verdedigt haar proefschrift volgende week.
She defends her thesis next week.
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 proefschrift” rather than as “proefschrift” 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.