de of het achterlicht?
het achterlicht
taillight
noun · /ˈɑx.tərˌlɪxt/
It is “het achterlicht”. The plural is “de achterlichten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: achterlicht
Forms
- Article
- het achterlicht
- Plural
- de achterlichten
- Also means
- rear light
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het achterlicht van mijn fiets is kapot.
The taillight of my bike is broken.
Doe je achterlicht aan in het donker.
Turn on your taillight in the dark.
Ik zag alleen zijn rode achterlicht verdwijnen.
I only saw his red taillight disappear.
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 achterlicht” rather than as “achterlicht” 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.