de of het spookverhaal?
het spookverhaal
ghost story
noun · /ˈspoːk.vərˌɦaːl/
It is “het spookverhaal”. The plural is “de spookverhalen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: spookverhaal
Forms
- Article
- het spookverhaal
- Plural
- de spookverhalen
- Diminutive
- het spookverhaaltje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij vertelde ons een griezelig spookverhaal.
He told us a creepy ghost story.
Het spookverhaal maakte iedereen bang.
The ghost story scared everyone.
Vertel ons eens een eng spookverhaal!
Tell us a scary ghost story!
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 spookverhaal” rather than as “spookverhaal” 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.