de of het kauwgom?
het kauwgom
chewing gum
noun · /ˈkɑu.ɣɔm/
It is “het kauwgom”. The plural is “de kauwgommen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kauwgom
Forms
- Article
- het kauwgom
- Plural
- de kauwgommen
- Diminutive
- het kauwgompje
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Wil je een stukje kauwgom?
Do you want a piece of chewing gum?
Het kauwgom hier is suikervrij.
The chewing gum here is sugar-free.
Ik gooi mijn kauwgom weg.
I'm throwing my chewing gum away.
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 kauwgom” rather than as “kauwgom” 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.