de of het schaakspel?
het schaakspel
chess
noun · /ˈsxaːkˌspɛl/
It is “het schaakspel”. The plural is “de schaakspellen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: schaakspel
Forms
- Article
- het schaakspel
- Plural
- de schaakspellen
- Also means
- game of chess, chess set
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik heb een nieuw schaakspel gekocht.
I bought a new chess set.
Het schaakspel duurde langer dan verwacht.
The chess game lasted longer than expected.
Zet jij het schaakspel maar klaar?
Could you set up the chess set?
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 schaakspel” rather than as “schaakspel” 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.