de of het spitsuur?
het spitsuur
peak hour
noun · /ˈspɪts.yːr/
It is “het spitsuur”. The plural is “de spitsuren”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: spitsuur
Forms
- Article
- het spitsuur
- Plural
- de spitsuren
- Diminutive
- het spitsuurtje
- Also means
- rush hour
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het spitsuur begint al om vier uur.
Peak hour already starts at four o'clock.
Ik vermijd het spitsuur graag.
I like to avoid peak hour.
De bus zat vol tijdens het spitsuur.
The bus was full during peak hour.
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 spitsuur” rather than as “spitsuur” 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.