de of het maandverband?
het maandverband
sanitary towel
noun · /ˈmaːnt.vərˌbɑnt/
It is “het maandverband”. The plural is “de maandverbanden”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: maandverband
Forms
- Article
- het maandverband
- Plural
- de maandverbanden
- Diminutive
- het maandverbandje
- Also means
- sanitary napkin, sanitary pad
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik moet dringend nieuw maandverband kopen.
I urgently need to buy new sanitary towels.
Heb je wat maandverband voor me?
Do you have some sanitary towels for me?
Dit maandverband voelt veel zachter aan.
This sanitary towel feels much softer.
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 maandverband” rather than as “maandverband” 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.