de of het aanknopingspunt?
het aanknopingspunt
starting point
noun · /ˈaːn.knoː.pɪŋsˌpʏnt/
It is “het aanknopingspunt”. The plural is “de aanknopingspunten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: aanknopingspunt
Forms
- Article
- het aanknopingspunt
- Plural
- de aanknopingspunten
- Diminutive
- het aanknopingspuntje
- Also means
- lead, point of reference
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
We hebben een aanknopingspunt gevonden.
We have found a starting point.
Is er een aanknopingspunt voor het onderzoek?
Is there a lead for the investigation?
Dit document biedt een goed aanknopingspunt.
This document offers a good starting point.
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 aanknopingspunt” rather than as “aanknopingspunt” 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.