de of het scheldwoord?
het scheldwoord
insult
noun · /ˈsxɛlt.ʋoːrt/
It is “het scheldwoord”. The plural is “de scheldwoorden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: scheldwoord
Forms
- Article
- het scheldwoord
- Plural
- de scheldwoorden
- Diminutive
- het scheldwoordje
- Also means
- invective, pejorative
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Dat is een onacceptabel scheldwoord.
That is an unacceptable insult.
Kinderen leren snel nieuwe scheldwoorden.
Children quickly learn new insults.
Ik haat het gebruik van dat scheldwoord.
I hate the use of that insult.
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 scheldwoord” rather than as “scheldwoord” 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.