de of het rattengif?
het rattengif
rat poison
noun · /ˈrɑ.tə(n)ˌɣɪf/
It is “het rattengif”. The plural is “de rattengiffen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: rattengif
Forms
- Article
- het rattengif
- Plural
- de rattengiffen
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Rattengif is zeer giftig.
Rat poison is very toxic.
We moeten rattengif leggen.
We need to lay out rat poison.
Pas op voor het rattengif.
Watch out for the rat poison.
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 rattengif” rather than as “rattengif” 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.