de of het kunstgebit?
het kunstgebit
false teeth
noun · /ˈkʏnst.xəˌbɪt/
It is “het kunstgebit”. The plural is “de kunstgebitten”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: kunstgebit
Forms
- Article
- het kunstgebit
- Plural
- de kunstgebitten
- Diminutive
- het kunstgebitje
- Also means
- set of dentures
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Mijn oma heeft een nieuw kunstgebit.
My grandma has new false teeth.
Waar is het kunstgebit gebleven?
Where did the false teeth go?
Hij doet zijn kunstgebit altijd uit.
He always takes out his false teeth.
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 kunstgebit” rather than as “kunstgebit” 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.