de of het afschrift?
het afschrift
copy
noun · /ˈɑf.sxrɪft/
It is “het afschrift”. The plural is “de afschriften”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: afschrift
Forms
- Article
- het afschrift
- Plural
- de afschriften
- Diminutive
- het afschriftje
- Also means
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik wil graag een afschrift ontvangen.
I would like to receive a copy.
Dit is het afschrift van mijn contract.
This is the copy of my contract.
Heb je het afschrift al geprint?
Have you already printed the copy?
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 afschrift” rather than as “afschrift” 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.