de of het gips?
het gips
plaster cast
noun · /ɣɪps/
It is “het gips”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: gips
Forms
- Article
- het gips
- Also means
- gypsum
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij heeft zijn arm in het gips.
He has his arm in a cast.
Wanneer mag het gips eraf?
When can the cast come off?
Het gips is nu erg zwaar.
The cast is very heavy now.
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 gips” rather than as “gips” 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.