de of het glijmiddel?
het glijmiddel
lubricant
noun · /ˈɣlɛi̯ˌmɪ.dəl/
It is “het glijmiddel”. The plural is “de glijmiddelen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: glijmiddel
Forms
- Article
- het glijmiddel
- Plural
- de glijmiddelen
- Diminutive
- het glijmiddeltje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
We hebben glijmiddel nodig.
We need lubricant.
Dit glijmiddel is op waterbasis.
This lubricant is water-based.
Het glijmiddel ligt in de badkamer.
The lubricant is in the bathroom.
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 glijmiddel” rather than as “glijmiddel” 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.