de of het hoogtepunt?
het hoogtepunt
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noun · /ˈɦoːx.təˌpʏnt/
It is “het hoogtepunt”. The plural is “de hoogtepunten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: hoogtepunt
Forms
- Article
- het hoogtepunt
- Plural
- de hoogtepunten
- Diminutive
- het hoogtepuntje
- Also means
- high point, acme, climax, zenith, altitude
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
De zonsopgang was het hoogtepunt van onze wandeling.
The sunrise was the zenith of our hike.
Het feest bereikte zijn hoogtepunt toen de band begon te spelen.
The party reached its climax when the band started to play.
Zijn carrière bereikte een hoogtepunt toen hij een internationale prijs won.
His career hit a zenith when he won an international award.
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 hoogtepunt” rather than as “hoogtepunt” 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.