de of het schaakbord?
het schaakbord
chessboard
noun · /ˈsxaːk.bɔrt/
It is “het schaakbord”. The plural is “de schaakborden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: schaakbord
Forms
- Article
- het schaakbord
- Plural
- de schaakborden
- Diminutive
- het schaakbordje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het schaakbord ligt op tafel.
The chessboard is on the table.
Hij zette het schaakbord klaar.
He set up the chessboard.
Dit schaakbord is heel mooi.
This chessboard is very beautiful.
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 schaakbord” rather than as “schaakbord” 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.