de of het hooggerechtshof?
het hooggerechtshof
supreme court
noun
It is “het hooggerechtshof”. The plural is “de hooggerechtshoven”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: hooggerechtshof
Forms
- Article
- het hooggerechtshof
- Plural
- de hooggerechtshoven
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het Hooggerechtshof heeft de uitspraak bevestigd.
The Supreme Court confirmed the ruling.
De zaak gaat naar het Hooggerechtshof.
The case goes to the Supreme Court.
Het Hooggerechtshof is de hoogste rechtbank.
The Supreme Court is the highest court.
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 hooggerechtshof” rather than as “hooggerechtshof” 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.