de of het zwaartepunt?
het zwaartepunt
centre of gravity
noun · /ˈzʋaːr.təˌpʏnt/
It is “het zwaartepunt”. The plural is “de zwaartepunten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: zwaartepunt
Forms
- Article
- het zwaartepunt
- Plural
- de zwaartepunten
- Diminutive
- het zwaartepuntje
- Also means
- center of mass, centroid, focus, center of gravity
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het zwaartepunt van de plank is moeilijk te vinden.
The center of mass of the plank is difficult to find.
Verlaag het zwaartepunt voor meer stabiliteit.
Lower the center of mass for more stability.
Het zwaartepunt van de discussie lag bij de kosten.
The focus of the discussion was on the costs.
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 zwaartepunt” rather than as “zwaartepunt” 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.