de of het spiegelbeeld?
het spiegelbeeld
mirror image
noun · /ˈspiɣəlˌbeːlt/
It is “het spiegelbeeld”. The plural is “de spiegelbeelden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: spiegelbeeld
Forms
- Article
- het spiegelbeeld
- Plural
- de spiegelbeelden
- Diminutive
- het spiegelbeeldje
- Also means
- opposite
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ze zag haar spiegelbeeld in het water.
She saw her reflection in the water.
Het spiegelbeeld was wazig door de mist.
The mirror image was blurry due to the fog.
De dochter is het spiegelbeeld van haar moeder.
The daughter is the spitting image of her mother.
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 spiegelbeeld” rather than as “spiegelbeeld” 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.