de of het dieptepunt?
het dieptepunt
low point
noun · /ˈdip.təˌpʏnt/
It is “het dieptepunt”. The plural is “de dieptepunten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: dieptepunt
Forms
- Article
- het dieptepunt
- Plural
- de dieptepunten
- Diminutive
- het dieptepuntje
- Also means
- nadir
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Na het verlies van zijn baan bereikte hij een dieptepunt in zijn leven.
After losing his job, he reached a low point in his life.
De economie bevindt zich momenteel op een dieptepunt.
The economy is currently at a nadir.
Het dieptepuntje van de film was het slechte acteerwerk.
The minor low point of the movie was the poor acting.
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 dieptepunt” rather than as “dieptepunt” 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.