de of het aanhoudingsbevel?
het aanhoudingsbevel
arrest warrant
noun · /ˈaːn.ɦɑu̯.dɪŋs.bəˌvɛl/
It is “het aanhoudingsbevel”. The plural is “de aanhoudingsbevelen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: aanhoudingsbevel
Forms
- Article
- het aanhoudingsbevel
- Plural
- de aanhoudingsbevelen
- Diminutive
- het aanhoudingsbevelletje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De politie heeft een aanhoudingsbevel gekregen.
The police have received an arrest warrant.
De rechter tekende het aanhoudingsbevel.
The judge signed the arrest warrant.
Er is een aanhoudingsbevel uitgevaardigd tegen hem.
An arrest warrant has been issued against him.
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 aanhoudingsbevel” rather than as “aanhoudingsbevel” 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.