de of het maagzuur?
het maagzuur
stomach acid
noun
It is “het maagzuur”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: maagzuur
Forms
- Article
- het maagzuur
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik heb vaak last van maagzuur.
I often suffer from heartburn.
Pittig eten geeft mij soms maagzuur.
Spicy food sometimes gives me heartburn.
Neem dit tabletje tegen het maagzuur.
Take this tablet against the stomach acid.
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 maagzuur” rather than as “maagzuur” 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.