de of het schoolfeest?
het schoolfeest
prom
noun · /ˈsxoːl.feːst/
It is “het schoolfeest”. The plural is “de schoolfeesten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: schoolfeest
Forms
- Article
- het schoolfeest
- Plural
- de schoolfeesten
- Diminutive
- het schoolfeestje
- Also means
- school party
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het schoolfeest was erg gezellig.
The prom was very enjoyable.
Ga je naar het schoolfeest dit jaar?
Are you going to the prom this year?
Wij organiseren het schoolfeest volgende week.
We are organizing the prom next week.
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 schoolfeest” rather than as “schoolfeest” 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.