de of het zoeklicht?
het zoeklicht
searchlight
noun · /ˈzuk.lɪxt/
It is “het zoeklicht”. The plural is “de zoeklichten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: zoeklicht
Forms
- Article
- het zoeklicht
- Plural
- de zoeklichten
- Diminutive
- het zoeklichtje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het zoeklicht van de boot scande de kust.
The searchlight of the boat scanned the coast.
Een krachtig zoeklicht verlichtte de donkere straat.
A powerful searchlight illuminated the dark street.
De bewaker zocht met zijn zoeklicht naar indringers.
The guard searched with his searchlight for intruders.
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 zoeklicht” rather than as “zoeklicht” 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.