de of het standbeeld?
het standbeeld
statue
noun · /ˈstɑnt.beːlt/
It is “het standbeeld”. The plural is “de standbeelden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: standbeeld
Forms
- Article
- het standbeeld
- Plural
- de standbeelden
- Diminutive
- het standbeeldje
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Er staat een standbeeld op het plein.
There is a statue on the square.
Dit bronzen standbeeld is erg oud.
This bronze statue is very old.
De toeristen fotografeerden het standbeeld.
The tourists photographed the statue.
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 standbeeld” rather than as “standbeeld” 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.