de of het arrestatiebevel?
het arrestatiebevel
arrest warrant
noun · /ɑ.rəˈstaː.(t)si.bəˌvɛl/
It is “het arrestatiebevel”. The plural is “de arrestatiebevelen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: arrestatiebevel
Forms
- Article
- het arrestatiebevel
- Plural
- de arrestatiebevelen
- Diminutive
- het arrestatiebevelletje
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Er is een arrestatiebevel tegen hem.
There is an arrest warrant against him.
De rechter tekende het arrestatiebevel.
The judge signed the arrest warrant.
Zonder arrestatiebevel mag de politie niemand vasthouden.
Without an arrest warrant, the police may not detain anyone.
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 arrestatiebevel” rather than as “arrestatiebevel” 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.