de of het dwangbuis?
het dwangbuis
straitjacket
noun · /ˈdʋɑŋ.bœy̯s/
It is “het dwangbuis”. The plural is “de dwangbuizen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: dwangbuis
Forms
- Article
- het dwangbuis
- Plural
- de dwangbuizen
- Diminutive
- het dwangbuisje
- Also means
- tight, cumbersome constraints
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De patiënt kreeg een dwangbuis aan.
The patient was put in a straitjacket.
Deze regels zijn een dwangbuis voor creativiteit.
These rules are a straitjacket for creativity.
Heeft hij echt een dwangbuis nodig?
Does he really need a straitjacket?
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 dwangbuis” rather than as “dwangbuis” 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.