de of het vliegdekschip?
het vliegdekschip
aircraft carrier
noun · /ˈvliɣ.dɛkˌsxɪp/
It is “het vliegdekschip”. The plural is “de vliegdekschepen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: vliegdekschip
Forms
- Article
- het vliegdekschip
- Plural
- de vliegdekschepen
- Diminutive
- het vliegdekscheepje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het vliegdekschip heeft een groot dek waarop vliegtuigen kunnen opstijgen en landen.
The aircraft carrier has a large deck on which airplanes can take off and land.
De marine heeft meerdere moderne vliegdekschepen die wereldwijd worden ingezet.
The navy has several modern aircraft carriers that are deployed worldwide.
Het vliegdekscheepje wordt gebruikt voor trainingen en oefeningen met kleinere vliegtuigen.
The aircraft carrier is used for training and exercises with smaller aircraft.
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 vliegdekschip” rather than as “vliegdekschip” 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.