de of het vrijgeleide?
het vrijgeleide
safe-conduct
noun · /ˈvrɛi̯.ɣəˌlɛi̯.də/
It is “het vrijgeleide”. The plural is “de vrijgeleiden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: vrijgeleide
Forms
- Article
- het vrijgeleide
- Plural
- de vrijgeleiden
- Also means
- free hand, free rein
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij kreeg een vrijgeleide om te reizen.
He received a safe-conduct to travel.
Zonder vrijgeleide mocht hij niet verder.
Without a safe-conduct, he was not allowed to continue.
Heb jij het vrijgeleide al getoond?
Have you already shown the safe-conduct?
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 vrijgeleide” rather than as “vrijgeleide” 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.