de of het miltvuur?
het miltvuur
anthrax
noun · /ˈmɪlt.fyr/
It is “het miltvuur”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: miltvuur
Forms
- Article
- het miltvuur
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Miltvuur is een ernstige bacteriële ziekte.
Anthrax is a serious bacterial disease.
Er was een uitbraak van miltvuur bij dieren.
There was an outbreak of anthrax in animals.
Vaccinatie kan bescherming bieden tegen miltvuur.
Vaccination can offer protection against anthrax.
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 miltvuur” rather than as “miltvuur” 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.