de of het aanzicht?
het aanzicht
view
noun · /ˈaːnˌzɪxt/
It is “het aanzicht”. The plural is “de aanzichten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: aanzicht
Forms
- Article
- het aanzicht
- Plural
- de aanzichten
- Diminutive
- het aanzichtje
- Also means
- regard
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het aanzicht vanaf de toren was prachtig.
The view from the tower was beautiful.
Het aanzicht van het gebouw is modern.
The front of the building is modern.
Een nieuwe kleur veranderde het hele aanzicht.
A new color changed the entire appearance.
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 aanzicht” rather than as “aanzicht” 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.