de of het kaakbeen?
het kaakbeen
jawbone
noun · /ˈkaːk.beːn/
It is “het kaakbeen”. The plural is “de kaakbeenderen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kaakbeen
Forms
- Article
- het kaakbeen
- Plural
- de kaakbeenderen
- Diminutive
- het kaakbeentje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het kaakbeen vormt een belangrijk onderdeel van de structuur van het gezicht.
The jawbone forms an important part of the facial structure.
Zijn kaakbeen deed pijn na de val.
His jawbone hurt after the fall.
De chirurg onderzocht het gebroken kaakbeen.
The surgeon examined the broken jawbone.
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 kaakbeen” rather than as “kaakbeen” 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.