de of het voorprogramma?
het voorprogramma
opening act
noun · /ˈvoːr.proːˌɣrɑ.maː/
It is “het voorprogramma”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: voorprogramma
Forms
- Article
- het voorprogramma
- Diminutive
- het voorprogrammaatje
- Also means
- artist
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het voorprogramma begint om acht uur.
The opening act starts at eight o'clock.
Ik vond het voorprogramma erg leuk.
I really liked the opening act.
Is er een voorprogramma vanavond?
Is there an opening act tonight?
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 voorprogramma” rather than as “voorprogramma” 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.