de of het oogcontact?
het oogcontact
eye contact
noun · /ˈoːx.kɔnˌtɑkt/
It is “het oogcontact”. The plural is “de oogcontacten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: oogcontact
Forms
- Article
- het oogcontact
- Plural
- de oogcontacten
- Diminutive
- het oogcontactje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ze maakte direct oogcontact.
She immediately made eye contact.
Hij vermeed elk oogcontact met haar.
He avoided all eye contact with her.
Goed oogcontact is essentieel bij een sollicitatie.
Good eye contact is essential during a job interview.
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 oogcontact” rather than as “oogcontact” 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.