de of het snoepgoed?
het snoepgoed
candy
noun
It is “het snoepgoed”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: snoepgoed
Forms
- Article
- het snoepgoed
- Also means
- confectionery
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Kinderen zijn dol op snoepgoed.
Children love candy.
Hoeveel snoepgoed mag ik eten?
How much candy may I eat?
Er ligt nog wat snoepgoed in de kast.
There is still some candy in the cupboard.
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 snoepgoed” rather than as “snoepgoed” 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.