de of het heenkomen?
het heenkomen
place of refuge
noun · /ˈɦeːnˌkoː.mə(n)/
It is “het heenkomen”. The plural is “de heenkomens”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: heenkomen
Forms
- Article
- het heenkomen
- Plural
- de heenkomens
- Diminutive
- het heenkomentje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ze zochten een veilig heenkomen.
They sought a safe refuge.
De dakloze had geen heenkomen.
The homeless person had no refuge.
Eindelijk vonden we een rustig heenkomen.
Finally, we found a quiet refuge.
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 heenkomen” rather than as “heenkomen” 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.