de of het salpeterzuur?
het salpeterzuur
nitric acid
noun
It is “het salpeterzuur”. The plural is “de salpeterzuren”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: salpeterzuur
Forms
- Article
- het salpeterzuur
- Plural
- de salpeterzuren
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Pas op met salpeterzuur.
Be careful with nitric acid.
Salpeterzuur kan metaal aantasten.
Nitric acid can corrode metal.
Het is een sterk zuur, salpeterzuur.
It is a strong acid, nitric acid.
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 salpeterzuur” rather than as “salpeterzuur” 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.