de of het grafiet?
het grafiet
graphite
noun · /ɣraːˈfit/
It is “het grafiet”. The plural is “de grafieten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: grafiet
Forms
- Article
- het grafiet
- Plural
- de grafieten
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Een potlood is gemaakt van hout en grafiet.
A pencil is made of wood and graphite.
Met grafiet kun je mooie tekeningen maken.
With graphite you can make beautiful drawings.
Grafiet is een zacht mineraal.
Graphite is a soft mineral.
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 grafiet” rather than as “grafiet” 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.