de of het vrijwilligerswerk?
het vrijwilligerswerk
volunteering work
noun · /vrɛi̯ˈʋɪ.lə.ɣərsˌʋɛrk/
It is “het vrijwilligerswerk”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: vrijwilligerswerk
Forms
- Article
- het vrijwilligerswerk
- Also means
- community service
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik doe graag vrijwilligerswerk in het asiel.
I enjoy doing volunteer work at the shelter.
Waarom is vrijwilligerswerk zo belangrijk?
Why is volunteering so important?
Zij wil meer vrijwilligerswerk gaan doen.
She wants to do more volunteer work.
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 vrijwilligerswerk” rather than as “vrijwilligerswerk” 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.