de of het staatshoofd?
het staatshoofd
head of state
noun · /ˈstaːts.ɦoːft/
It is “het staatshoofd”. The plural is “de staatshoofden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: staatshoofd
Forms
- Article
- het staatshoofd
- Plural
- de staatshoofden
- Diminutive
- het staatshoofdje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De koning is het staatshoofd van Nederland.
The king is the head of state of the Netherlands.
Wie is het huidige staatshoofd van Frankrijk?
Who is the current head of state of France?
Het staatshoofd bezoekt morgen de Verenigde Naties.
The head of state visits the United Nations tomorrow.
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 staatshoofd” rather than as “staatshoofd” 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.