de of het smeergeld?
het smeergeld
graft
noun · /ˈsmeːr.ɣɛlt/
It is “het smeergeld”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: smeergeld
Forms
- Article
- het smeergeld
- Also means
- bribe
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het smeergeld werd ontdekt door de politie.
The bribe money was discovered by the police.
Hij eiste veel smeergeld voor de vergunning.
He demanded a lot of bribe money for the permit.
Wij betalen uit principe nooit smeergeld.
We never pay bribes on principle.
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 smeergeld” rather than as “smeergeld” 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.