de of het stamhoofd?
het stamhoofd
tribal chief
noun · /ˈstɑm.ɦoːft/
It is “het stamhoofd”. The plural is “de stamhoofden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: stamhoofd
Forms
- Article
- het stamhoofd
- Plural
- de stamhoofden
- Diminutive
- het stamhoofdje
- Also means
- leader
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het stamhoofd leidde zijn volk.
The tribal chief led his people.
Wie is het stamhoofd van deze stam?
Who is the tribal chief of this tribe?
De beslissing kwam van het stamhoofd zelf.
The decision came from the tribal chief himself.
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 stamhoofd” rather than as “stamhoofd” 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.