de of het keerpunt?
het keerpunt
turning point
noun · /ˈkeːr.pʏnt/
It is “het keerpunt”. The plural is “de keerpunten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: keerpunt
Forms
- Article
- het keerpunt
- Plural
- de keerpunten
- Diminutive
- het keerpuntje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Die beslissing was een keerpunt in mijn leven.
That decision was a turning point in my life.
Deze ontdekking markeert een keerpunt in de wetenschap.
This discovery marks a turning point in science.
Dit jaar zal het keerpunt voor ons bedrijf zijn.
This year will be the turning point for our company.
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 keerpunt” rather than as “keerpunt” 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.