de of het schouwspel?
het schouwspel
show
noun
It is “het schouwspel”. The plural is “de schouwspelen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: schouwspel
Forms
- Article
- het schouwspel
- Plural
- de schouwspelen
- Diminutive
- het schouwspelletje
- Also means
- spectacle
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het schouwspel van de zonsondergang was adembenemend.
The spectacle of the sunset was breathtaking.
We keken met plezier naar het indrukwekkende schouwspel.
We happily watched the impressive spectacle.
Een prachtig schouwspel ontvouwde zich voor onze ogen.
A beautiful spectacle unfolded before our eyes.
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 schouwspel” rather than as “schouwspel” 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.