de of het infuus?
het infuus
drip
noun
It is “het infuus”. The plural is “de infusen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: infuus
Forms
- Article
- het infuus
- Plural
- de infusen
- Diminutive
- het infuusje
- Also means
- iv, intravenous injection
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Hij kreeg een infuus voor de operatie.
He received an IV before the operation.
Het infuus zit nu in haar arm.
The IV is now in her arm.
De verpleegkundige controleerde het infuus.
The nurse checked the IV.
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 infuus” rather than as “infuus” 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.