de of het uitgangspunt?
het uitgangspunt
point of departure
noun · /ˈœy̯t.xɑŋsˌpʏnt/
It is “het uitgangspunt”. The plural is “de uitgangspunten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: uitgangspunt
Forms
- Article
- het uitgangspunt
- Plural
- de uitgangspunten
- Diminutive
- het uitgangspuntje
- Also means
- starting point
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Dit idee is het belangrijkste uitgangspunt voor ons onderzoek.
This idea is the main starting point for our research.
Elke wetenschapper heeft een ander uitgangspunt voor zijn theorie.
Every scientist has a different point of departure for their theory.
Het uitgangspunt van deze discussie is dat iedereen gelijk is.
The starting point of this discussion is that everyone is equal.
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 uitgangspunt” rather than as “uitgangspunt” 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.