de of het spaargeld?
het spaargeld
one's savings
noun · /ˈspaːr.ɣɛlt/
It is “het spaargeld”. The plural is “de spaargelden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: spaargeld
Forms
- Article
- het spaargeld
- Plural
- de spaargelden
- Diminutive
- het spaargeldje
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Het spaargeld groeit gestaag.
The savings are growing steadily.
Heb je genoeg spaargeld voor die reis?
Do you have enough savings for that trip?
Hij legt elke maand wat spaargeld opzij.
He puts some savings aside every month.
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 spaargeld” rather than as “spaargeld” 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.