de of het schoolbestuur?
het schoolbestuur
school administration
noun · /ˈsxoːl.bəˌstyːr/
It is “het schoolbestuur”. The plural is “de schoolbesturen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: schoolbestuur
Forms
- Article
- het schoolbestuur
- Plural
- de schoolbesturen
- Diminutive
- het schoolbestuurtje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het schoolbestuur beslist over nieuwe regels.
The school administration decides on new rules.
De directie overlegt met het schoolbestuur.
The management consults with the school administration.
Het schoolbestuur zal dit plan goedkeuren.
The school administration will approve this plan.
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 schoolbestuur” rather than as “schoolbestuur” 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.