de of het toonbeeld?
het toonbeeld
paragon
noun · /ˈtoːn.beːlt/
It is “het toonbeeld”. The plural is “de toonbeelden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: toonbeeld
Forms
- Article
- het toonbeeld
- Plural
- de toonbeelden
- Diminutive
- het toonbeeldje
- Also means
- model, imitated, imitation, reflection, sample
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Zij is het toonbeeld van vriendelijkheid.
She is the paragon of kindness.
Dit park is een toonbeeld van natuurlijke schoonheid.
This park is an example of natural beauty.
Zijn moed was het toonbeeld van ware kracht.
His courage was the paragon of true strength.
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 toonbeeld” rather than as “toonbeeld” 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.