de of het vagevuur?
het vagevuur
purgatory
noun
It is “het vagevuur”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: vagevuur
Forms
- Article
- het vagevuur
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij geloofde niet in het vagevuur.
He did not believe in purgatory.
Het vagevuur zou een tijdelijke straf zijn.
Purgatory would be a temporary punishment.
Zielen wachten in het vagevuur op verlossing.
Souls wait in purgatory for salvation.
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 vagevuur” rather than as “vagevuur” 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.