de of het winkelcentrum?
het winkelcentrum
shopping centre
noun · /ˈʋɪŋ.kəlˌsɛn.trʏm/
It is “het winkelcentrum”. The plural is “de winkelcentra”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: winkelcentrum
Forms
- Article
- het winkelcentrum
- Plural
- de winkelcentra
- Diminutive
- het winkelcentrumpje
- Also means
- mall
- How common
- among the 5,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Het winkelcentrum is open tot zes uur.
The shopping centre is open until six o'clock.
We gaan vanmiddag naar het winkelcentrum.
We are going to the shopping centre this afternoon.
Dit is een groot en modern winkelcentrum.
This is a large and modern shopping centre.
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 winkelcentrum” rather than as “winkelcentrum” 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.