de of het schoolvoorbeeld?
het schoolvoorbeeld
textbook case
noun · /ˈsxoːlˌvoːr.beːlt/
It is “het schoolvoorbeeld”. The plural is “de schoolvoorbeelden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: schoolvoorbeeld
Forms
- Article
- het schoolvoorbeeld
- Plural
- de schoolvoorbeelden
- Diminutive
- het schoolvoorbeeldje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Dit is het schoolvoorbeeld van goede service.
This is the textbook example of good service.
Zijn reactie was het schoolvoorbeeld van slechte communicatie.
His reaction was the textbook example of bad communication.
Zij is het schoolvoorbeeld van een hardwerkende student.
She is the textbook example of a hard-working student.
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 schoolvoorbeeld” rather than as “schoolvoorbeeld” 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.