de of het vraagstuk?
het vraagstuk
problem
noun · /ˈvraːx.stʏk/
It is “het vraagstuk”. The plural is “de vraagstukken”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: vraagstuk
Forms
- Article
- het vraagstuk
- Plural
- de vraagstukken
- Diminutive
- het vraagstukje
- Also means
- question, issue
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het vraagstuk is nog onduidelijk.
The issue is still unclear.
Dit is een belangrijk vraagstuk voor ons.
This is an important issue for us.
De directie bespreekt het vraagstuk morgen.
The management will discuss the issue tomorrow.
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 vraagstuk” rather than as “vraagstuk” 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.