de of het piepschuim?
het piepschuim
styrofoam
noun · /ˈpipˌsxœy̯m/
It is “het piepschuim”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: piepschuim
Forms
- Article
- het piepschuim
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Piepschuim is erg licht.
Styrofoam is very light.
We moeten het piepschuim weggooien.
We have to throw away the styrofoam.
Deze verpakking is van piepschuim.
This packaging is made of styrofoam.
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 piepschuim” rather than as “piepschuim” 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.