de of het slachtoffer?
het slachtoffer
victim
noun · /ˈslɑxtˌɔ.fər/
It is “het slachtoffer”. The plural is “de slachtoffers”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: slachtoffer
Forms
- Article
- het slachtoffer
- Plural
- de slachtoffers
- Diminutive
- het slachtoffertje
- How common
- among the 1,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Het slachtoffer kreeg direct medische hulp.
The victim immediately received medical help.
Hij werd slachtoffer van een online fraude.
He became a victim of online fraud.
De brandweer redde meerdere slachtoffers uit het huis.
The fire department rescued several victims from the house.
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 slachtoffer” rather than as “slachtoffer” 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.