de of het trefbal?
het trefbal
dodgeball
noun
It is “het trefbal”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: trefbal
Forms
- Article
- het trefbal
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Vandaag spelen we trefbal op het plein.
Today we are playing dodgeball on the square.
Trefbal is een heel leuk spel.
Dodgeball is a very fun game.
Wil je meedoen met trefbal?
Do you want to join in with dodgeball?
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 trefbal” rather than as “trefbal” 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.