de of het strafrecht?
het strafrecht
criminal law
noun · /ˈstrɑf.rɛxt/
It is “het strafrecht”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: strafrecht
Forms
- Article
- het strafrecht
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij studeert strafrecht aan de universiteit.
He studies criminal law at the university.
Dit valt onder het strafrecht.
This falls under criminal law.
Het strafrecht beschermt de samenleving.
Criminal law protects society.
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 strafrecht” rather than as “strafrecht” 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.