de of het ijswater?
het ijswater
ice water
noun · /ˈɛi̯sˌʋaː.tər/
It is “het ijswater”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: ijswater
Forms
- Article
- het ijswater
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het ijswater was heerlijk verfrissend.
The ice water was wonderfully refreshing.
Zij dronk het hele glas ijswater leeg.
She drank the whole glass of ice water empty.
Doe een beetje ijswater bij de limonade.
Add a little ice water to the lemonade.
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 ijswater” rather than as “ijswater” 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.