de of het littekenweefsel?
het littekenweefsel
scar tissue
noun
It is “het littekenweefsel”. The plural is “de littekenweefsels”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: littekenweefsel
Forms
- Article
- het littekenweefsel
- Plural
- de littekenweefsels
- Diminutive
- het littekenweefseltje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Na de operatie ontstaat er littekenweefsel.
After the operation, scar tissue forms.
Dit littekenweefsel voelt hard en stug aan.
This scar tissue feels hard and tough.
De chirurg verwijderde het overtollige littekenweefsel.
The surgeon removed the excess scar tissue.
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 littekenweefsel” rather than as “littekenweefsel” 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.