de of het slagveld?
het slagveld
battlefield
noun · /ˈslɑx.vɛlt/
It is “het slagveld”. The plural is “de slagvelden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: slagveld
Forms
- Article
- het slagveld
- Plural
- de slagvelden
- Diminutive
- het slagveldje
- Also means
- carnage, disaster area
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
De dappere soldaten vochten op het slagveld voor hun land.
The brave soldiers fought on the battlefield for their country.
Na de veldslag lag het slagveld bezaaid met gesneuvelde soldaten.
After the battle, the battlefield was littered with fallen soldiers.
Het ongeluk had een verwoestend effect en liet een waar slagveld achter.
The accident had a devastating effect and left a true carnage behind.
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 slagveld” rather than as “slagveld” 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.