de of het voorarrest?
het voorarrest
pre-trial detention
noun · /ˈvoːr.ɑˌrɛst/
It is “het voorarrest”. The plural is “de voorarresten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: voorarrest
Forms
- Article
- het voorarrest
- Plural
- de voorarresten
- Diminutive
- het voorarrestje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het voorarrest duurde drie weken.
The pre-trial detention lasted three weeks.
Hij zit nog in voorarrest.
He is still in pre-trial detention.
De rechter verlengde het voorarrest.
The judge extended the pre-trial detention.
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 voorarrest” rather than as “voorarrest” 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.