de of het sterfgeval?
het sterfgeval
fatality
noun · /ˈstɛrf.xəˌvɑl/
It is “het sterfgeval”. The plural is “de sterfgevallen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: sterfgeval
Forms
- Article
- het sterfgeval
- Plural
- de sterfgevallen
- Diminutive
- het sterfgevalletje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Er was één sterfgeval bij het ongeluk.
There was one fatality in the accident.
Gelukkig waren er geen sterfgevallen.
Fortunately, there were no fatalities.
Het sterfgeval schokte de hele gemeenschap.
The fatality shocked the entire community.
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 sterfgeval” rather than as “sterfgeval” 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.