de of het pessarium?
het pessarium
pessary
noun · /pɛˈsaːriʏm/
It is “het pessarium”. The plural is “de pessaria”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: pessarium
Forms
- Article
- het pessarium
- Plural
- de pessaria
- Diminutive
- het pessariumpje
- Also means
- diaphragm
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ze gebruikt het pessarium als anticonceptie.
She uses the pessary for contraception.
De arts raadde een pessarium aan.
The doctor recommended a pessary.
Weet jij hoe je het pessarium inbrengt?
Do you know how to insert the pessary?
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 pessarium” rather than as “pessarium” 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.