de of het auteursrecht?
het auteursrecht
copyright
noun · /ɑu̯ˈtøːrsˌrɛxt/
It is “het auteursrecht”. The plural is “de auteursrechten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: auteursrecht
Forms
- Article
- het auteursrecht
- Plural
- de auteursrechten
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het auteursrecht beschermt creatief werk.
Copyright protects creative work.
Rust er auteursrecht op deze foto?
Is there copyright on this photo?
Dit is een schending van het auteursrecht.
This is a violation of the copyright.
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 auteursrecht” rather than as “auteursrecht” 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.