de of het doelwit?
het doelwit
target
noun · /ˈdul.ʋɪt/
It is “het doelwit”. The plural is “de doelwitten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: doelwit
Forms
- Article
- het doelwit
- Plural
- de doelwitten
- Diminutive
- het doelwitje
- Also means
- prey
- How common
- among the 2,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Hij miste het doelwit.
He missed the target.
De politicus was het doelwit van veel kritiek.
The politician was the target of much criticism.
Het gebouw was een gemakkelijk doelwit.
The building was an easy target.
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 doelwit” rather than as “doelwit” 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.