de of het oplosmiddel?
het oplosmiddel
solvent
noun
It is “het oplosmiddel”. The plural is “de oplosmiddelen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: oplosmiddel
Forms
- Article
- het oplosmiddel
- Plural
- de oplosmiddelen
- Diminutive
- het oplosmiddeltje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Water is een veelgebruikt oplosmiddel.
Water is a commonly used solvent.
Gebruik dit oplosmiddel om de verf te verwijderen.
Use this solvent to remove the paint.
Ventileer de ruimte goed bij gebruik van het oplosmiddel.
Ventilate the room well when using the solvent.
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 oplosmiddel” rather than as “oplosmiddel” 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.