de of het schaakmat?
het schaakmat
checkmate
noun
It is “het schaakmat”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: schaakmat
Forms
- Article
- het schaakmat
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het was schaakmat in slechts vijf zetten.
It was checkmate in only five moves.
De grootmeester zette zijn tegenstander schaakmat.
The grandmaster checkmated his opponent.
Het schaakmat kwam na een lange en spannende strijd.
The checkmate came after a long and exciting struggle.
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 schaakmat” rather than as “schaakmat” 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.