de of het schoolplein?
het schoolplein
schoolyard
noun
It is “het schoolplein”. The plural is “de schoolpleinen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: schoolplein
Forms
- Article
- het schoolplein
- Plural
- de schoolpleinen
- Diminutive
- het schoolpleintje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De kinderen spelen op het schoolplein.
The children are playing on the schoolyard.
Het schoolplein heeft nieuwe speeltoestellen.
The schoolyard has new play equipment.
Na schooltijd is het schoolplein leeg.
After school, the schoolyard is empty.
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 schoolplein” rather than as “schoolplein” 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.