de of het stadium?
het stadium
stage
noun · /ˈstaː.di.ʏm/
It is “het stadium”. The plural is “de stadiums”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: stadium
Forms
- Article
- het stadium
- Plural
- de stadiums
- Diminutive
- het stadiumpje
- Also means
- phase
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Dit project is nog in een vroeg stadium.
This project is still in an early stage.
In welk stadium bevindt het zich?
In which stage is it?
De ziekte is al in een laat stadium.
The disease is already in a late stage.
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 stadium” rather than as “stadium” 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.