de of het schaamhaar?
het schaamhaar
single pubic hair
noun · /ˈsxaːm.ɦaːr/
It is “het schaamhaar”. The plural is “de schaamharen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: schaamhaar
Forms
- Article
- het schaamhaar
- Plural
- de schaamharen
- Diminutive
- het schaamhaartje
- Also means
- pubic hair
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Er zat een schaamhaar op de bank.
There was a pubic hair on the couch.
Het schaamhaar was erg donker van kleur.
The pubic hair was very dark in color.
Hij trimt regelmatig zijn schaamhaar.
He regularly trims his pubic hair.
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 schaamhaar” rather than as “schaamhaar” 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.