de of het vreugdevuur?
het vreugdevuur
bonfire
noun · /ˈvrøːɣ.dəˌvyr/
It is “het vreugdevuur”. The plural is “de vreugdevuren”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: vreugdevuur
Forms
- Article
- het vreugdevuur
- Plural
- de vreugdevuren
- Diminutive
- het vreugdevuurtje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
We maken een groot vreugdevuur.
We are making a big bonfire.
Het vreugdevuur brandde op het strand.
The bonfire burned on the beach.
Kinderen dansten blij rond het vreugdevuur.
Children happily danced around the bonfire.
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 vreugdevuur” rather than as “vreugdevuur” 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.