de of het mengsel?
het mengsel
mixture
noun · /ˈmɛŋ.səl/
It is “het mengsel”. The plural is “de mengsels”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: mengsel
Forms
- Article
- het mengsel
- Plural
- de mengsels
- Diminutive
- het mengseltje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het mengsel van bloem, suiker en boter wordt gebruikt om de taart te maken.
The mixture of flour, sugar, and butter is used to make the cake.
Ze maakte een mengsel van verschillende kruiden voor de marinade.
She made a mixture of different spices for the marinade.
Het mengsel is nu perfect.
The mixture is perfect now.
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 mengsel” rather than as “mengsel” 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.