de of het braaksel?
het braaksel
vomit
noun · /ˈbraːk.səl/
It is “het braaksel”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: braaksel
Forms
- Article
- het braaksel
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ze ruimde het braaksel snel op.
She quickly cleaned up the vomit.
Er lag braaksel op de grond.
There was vomit on the floor.
De geur van braaksel was sterk.
The smell of vomit was strong.
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 braaksel” rather than as “braaksel” 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.