de of het kalium?
het kalium
potassium
noun · /ˈkaː.li.ʏm/
It is “het kalium”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kalium
Forms
- Article
- het kalium
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Bananen bevatten veel kalium.
Bananas contain a lot of potassium.
Kalium is belangrijk voor je spieren.
Potassium is important for your muscles.
Je hebt extra kalium nodig.
You need extra potassium.
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 kalium” rather than as “kalium” 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.