de of het eiwit?
het eiwit
egg white
noun · /ˈɛi̯.ʋɪt/
It is “het eiwit”. The plural is “de eiwitten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: eiwit
Forms
- Article
- het eiwit
- Plural
- de eiwitten
- Diminutive
- het eiwitje
- Also means
- albumen, protein
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het eiwit moet gescheiden worden van de dooier.
The egg white needs to be separated from the yolk.
Een meringue wordt gemaakt van geklopt eiwit.
A meringue is made from whipped egg white.
Ik heb drie eiwitten nodig voor dit recept.
I need three egg whites for this recipe.
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 eiwit” rather than as “eiwit” 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.