de of het slapengaan?
het slapengaan
going to sleep
noun · /ˈslaː.pə(n)ˌxaːn/
It is “het slapengaan”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: slapengaan
Forms
- Article
- het slapengaan
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het slapengaan was moeilijk vannacht.
Going to sleep was difficult last night.
Voor het slapengaan lees ik graag een boek.
Before going to sleep, I like to read a book.
Na het slapengaan droom ik vaak.
After going to sleep, I often dream.
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 slapengaan” rather than as “slapengaan” 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.