de of het stadsbestuur?
het stadsbestuur
city administration
noun · /ˈstɑts.bəˌstyːr/
It is “het stadsbestuur”. The plural is “de stadsbesturen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: stadsbestuur
Forms
- Article
- het stadsbestuur
- Plural
- de stadsbesturen
- Diminutive
- het stadsbestuurtje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het stadsbestuur plant een nieuw park.
The city administration is planning a new park.
Wij spreken morgen met het stadsbestuur.
We are speaking with the city administration tomorrow.
De beslissing ligt bij het stadsbestuur.
The decision rests with the city administration.
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 stadsbestuur” rather than as “stadsbestuur” 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.