de of het vliegveld?
het vliegveld
airfield
noun · /ˈvliːxfɛlt/
It is “het vliegveld”. The plural is “de vliegvelden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: vliegveld
Forms
- Article
- het vliegveld
- Plural
- de vliegvelden
- Diminutive
- het vliegveldje
- Also means
- airport
- How common
- among the 3,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Het vliegveld is gesloten wegens mist.
The airfield is closed due to fog.
We rijden nu naar het vliegveld.
We are driving to the airfield now.
Veel mensen wachten op het vliegveld.
Many people are waiting at the airfield.
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 vliegveld” rather than as “vliegveld” 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.