de of het circuit?
het circuit
racetrack
noun · /sɪrˈkʋi/
It is “het circuit”. The plural is “de circuits”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: circuit
Forms
- Article
- het circuit
- Plural
- de circuits
- Diminutive
- het circuitje
- Also means
- electric circuit, clique, circle
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Morgen gaan we naar het circuit.
Tomorrow we are going to the circuit.
De coureur rijdt hard op het circuit.
The driver is driving fast on the circuit.
Het circuit is wereldberoemd.
The circuit is world-famous.
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 circuit” rather than as “circuit” 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.