de of het vooroordeel?
het vooroordeel
preconception
noun · /ˈvoːrˌoːrdeːl/
It is “het vooroordeel”. The plural is “de vooroordelen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: vooroordeel
Forms
- Article
- het vooroordeel
- Plural
- de vooroordelen
- Diminutive
- het vooroordeeltje
- Also means
- prejudice
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij heeft een sterk vooroordeel tegen die groep mensen.
He has a strong preconception against that group of people.
Bekijk de situatie zonder enig vooroordeel.
View the situation without any preconception.
Dat vooroordeel over haar klopt echt niet.
That preconception about her really isn't true.
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 vooroordeel” rather than as “vooroordeel” 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.