de of het raadslid?
het raadslid
councillor
noun · /ˈraːts.lɪt/
It is “het raadslid”. The plural is “de raadsleden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: raadslid
Forms
- Article
- het raadslid
- Plural
- de raadsleden
- Also means
- council member
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Het raadslid gaf een toelichting.
The councillor gave an explanation.
Is zij het nieuwe raadslid voor deze wijk?
Is she the new councillor for this district?
We kunnen het raadslid hierover aanspreken.
We can address the councillor about this.
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 raadslid” rather than as “raadslid” 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.