de of het kruispunt?
het kruispunt
intersection of lines
noun · /ˈkrœy̯spʏnt/
It is “het kruispunt”. The plural is “de kruispunten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kruispunt
Forms
- Article
- het kruispunt
- Plural
- de kruispunten
- Diminutive
- het kruispuntje
- Also means
- crossroads
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Sla rechtsaf bij het eerste kruispunt.
Turn right at the first intersection.
Het kruispunt was afgesloten door werkzaamheden.
The intersection was closed due to roadworks.
Dat is een gevaarlijk kruispunt voor fietsers.
That is a dangerous intersection for cyclists.
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 kruispunt” rather than as “kruispunt” 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.