de of het vuurpeloton?
het vuurpeloton
firing squad
noun · /ˈvyːr.peː.loːˌtɔn/
It is “het vuurpeloton”. The plural is “de vuurpelotons”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: vuurpeloton
Forms
- Article
- het vuurpeloton
- Plural
- de vuurpelotons
- Diminutive
- het vuurpelotonnetje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het vuurpeloton stond klaar.
The firing squad was ready.
Hij werd veroordeeld tot het vuurpeloton.
He was condemned to the firing squad.
De generaal gaf het vuurpeloton de opdracht.
The general gave the firing squad the order.
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 vuurpeloton” rather than as “vuurpeloton” 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.