de of het lichaamsvocht?
het lichaamsvocht
body fluid
noun
It is “het lichaamsvocht”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: lichaamsvocht
Forms
- Article
- het lichaamsvocht
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het lichaamsvocht moet in balans zijn.
The body fluid must be in balance.
De arts nam een monster van het lichaamsvocht.
The doctor took a sample of the body fluid.
Zweten helpt overtollig lichaamsvocht af te voeren.
Sweating helps to discharge excess body fluid.
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 lichaamsvocht” rather than as “lichaamsvocht” 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.