de of het hoogtij?
het hoogtij
high tide
noun · /ˈɦoːx.tɛi̯/
It is “het hoogtij”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: hoogtij
Forms
- Article
- het hoogtij
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het is hoogtij om vier uur.
High tide is at four o'clock.
Bij hoogtij kunnen we het water in.
At high tide, we can go into the water.
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 hoogtij” rather than as “hoogtij” 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.