de of het buikgevoel?
het buikgevoel
gut feeling
noun · /ˈbœy̯k.xəˌvul/
It is “het buikgevoel”. The plural is “de buikgevoelens”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: buikgevoel
Forms
- Article
- het buikgevoel
- Plural
- de buikgevoelens
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik had een sterk buikgevoel dat er iets mis was.
I had a strong gut feeling that something was wrong.
Ik vertrouw op mijn buikgevoel.
I trust my gut feeling.
Volg altijd je buikgevoel.
Always follow your gut feeling.
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 buikgevoel” rather than as “buikgevoel” 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.