de of het rookgordijn?
het rookgordijn
smokescreen
noun · /ˈroːk.xɔrˌdɛi̯n/
It is “het rookgordijn”. The plural is “de rookgordijnen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: rookgordijn
Forms
- Article
- het rookgordijn
- Plural
- de rookgordijnen
- Diminutive
- het rookgordijntje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het rookgordijn verspreidde zich snel.
The smokescreen spread quickly.
Zijn verhaal was slechts een rookgordijn.
His story was just a smokescreen.
Achter het rookgordijn verborgen ze iets.
Behind the smokescreen they hid something.
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 rookgordijn” rather than as “rookgordijn” 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.