de of het tegenbod?
het tegenbod
counteroffer
noun · /ˈteː.ɣə(n)ˌbɔt/
It is “het tegenbod”. The plural is “de tegenboden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: tegenbod
Forms
- Article
- het tegenbod
- Plural
- de tegenboden
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
We ontvingen zojuist een tegenbod.
We just received a counteroffer.
Hij deed een goed tegenbod.
He made a good counteroffer.
Het tegenbod was te laag.
The counteroffer was too low.
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 tegenbod” rather than as “tegenbod” 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.