de of het toverwoord?
het toverwoord
magic word
noun
It is “het toverwoord”. The plural is “de toverwoorden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: toverwoord
Forms
- Article
- het toverwoord
- Plural
- de toverwoorden
- Diminutive
- het toverwoordje
- Also means
- spell
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Abracadabra was het toverwoord in het sprookje.
Abracadabra was the magic word in the fairy tale.
Vergeet 'alsjeblieft' niet, dat is het toverwoord.
Don't forget 'please', that's the magic word.
Geduld is soms het toverwoord voor succes.
Patience is sometimes the magic word for success.
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 toverwoord” rather than as “toverwoord” 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.