de of het slaaptekort?
het slaaptekort
lack of sleep
noun · /ˈslaːp.təˌkɔrt/
It is “het slaaptekort”. The plural is “de slaaptekorten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: slaaptekort
Forms
- Article
- het slaaptekort
- Plural
- de slaaptekorten
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Door het slaaptekort voel ik me moe.
Because of the lack of sleep, I feel tired.
Zijn slaaptekort beïnvloedt zijn humeur.
His lack of sleep affects his mood.
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 slaaptekort” rather than as “slaaptekort” 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.