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Questions & Answers about De schade is groot.
Why is the definite article de used with schade instead of het?
In Dutch, nouns belong to two grammatical genders: common and neuter. Common-gender nouns take de, neuter nouns take het. Schade (“damage”) is a common-gender noun, so it uses de. Unfortunately there’s no absolute rule, so you often have to learn the article with the noun.
Can I omit the article and say Schade is groot?
In a normal Dutch sentence you almost always include the article: De schade is groot. You might see Schade groot in headlines, notes or very informal speech, but in standard spoken or written Dutch the de remains.
Why is the adjective groot not grote in this sentence?
When an adjective follows a copula like is, it’s in predicative position and stays in its base form (no -e ending): is groot. If you place the adjective before the noun (attributive position), it does take -e: de grote schade.
Is schade a countable noun? Can I say schades?
Schade is generally an uncountable (mass) noun in Dutch, so you do not form a plural schades. To express quantity you use words like veel: Er is veel schade (“There is a lot of damage”).