de of het houvast?
het houvast
grip
noun · /ˈɦɑu̯vɑst/
It is “het houvast”. The plural is “de houvasten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: houvast
Forms
- Article
- het houvast
- Plural
- de houvasten
- Also means
- grasp, support, solace
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Er is geen houvast op deze gladde rots.
There is no grip on this slippery rock.
Haar familie gaf haar veel houvast na het verlies.
Her family gave her a lot of support after the loss.
Deze regels bieden ons wat houvast.
These rules offer us some guidance.
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 houvast” rather than as “houvast” 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.