de of het koolstofdioxide?
het koolstofdioxide
carbon dioxide
noun · /koːlstɔfdiɔksidə/
It is “het koolstofdioxide”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: koolstofdioxide
Forms
- Article
- het koolstofdioxide
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Koolstofdioxide is een broeikasgas.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas.
Fabrieken stoten veel koolstofdioxide uit.
Factories emit a lot of carbon dioxide.
Planten gebruiken koolstofdioxide voor fotosynthese.
Plants use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis.
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 koolstofdioxide” rather than as “koolstofdioxide” 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.