de of het spreekwoord?
het spreekwoord
saying
noun · /ˈspreːk.ʋoːrt/
It is “het spreekwoord”. The plural is “de spreekwoorden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: spreekwoord
Forms
- Article
- het spreekwoord
- Plural
- de spreekwoorden
- Diminutive
- het spreekwoordje
- Also means
- proverb
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Wat betekent dit spreekwoord precies?
What exactly does this saying mean?
Mijn oma kent veel spreekwoorden en gezegden.
My grandma knows many sayings and proverbs.
Dat is een mooi spreekwoord over geduld.
That is a beautiful saying about patience.
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 spreekwoord” rather than as “spreekwoord” 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.