de of het schampschot?
het schampschot
grazing shot
noun · /ˈsxɑmp.sxɔt/
It is “het schampschot”. The plural is “de schampschoten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: schampschot
Forms
- Article
- het schampschot
- Plural
- de schampschoten
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het was slechts een schampschot.
It was only a grazing shot.
Gelukkig zorgde het schampschot voor weinig schade.
Luckily, the grazing shot caused little damage.
Hij voelde het schampschot langs zijn hoofd.
He felt the grazing shot along his head.
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 schampschot” rather than as “schampschot” 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.