de of het identiteitsbewijs?
het identiteitsbewijs
ID
noun
It is “het identiteitsbewijs”. The plural is “de identiteitsbewijzen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: identiteitsbewijs
Forms
- Article
- het identiteitsbewijs
- Plural
- de identiteitsbewijzen
- Diminutive
- het identiteitsbewijsje
- Also means
- proof of identity, passport, id card
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Mag ik uw identiteitsbewijs zien?
May I see your proof of identity?
Je moet altijd een identiteitsbewijs bij je hebben.
You must always carry a proof of identity with you.
Heeft u een geldig identiteitsbewijs bij zich?
Do you have a valid proof of identity with you?
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 identiteitsbewijs” rather than as “identiteitsbewijs” 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.