de of het toezicht?
het toezicht
supervision
noun · /ˈtu.zɪxt/
It is “het toezicht”. The plural is “de toezichten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: toezicht
Forms
- Article
- het toezicht
- Plural
- de toezichten
- Also means
- oversight
- How common
- among the 5,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
De leraar houdt toezicht op de leerlingen.
The teacher supervises the students.
Het toezicht op deze afdeling is streng.
The supervision in this department is strict.
De kinderen spelen altijd onder toezicht.
The children always play under supervision.
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 toezicht” rather than as “toezicht” 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.