de of het serum?
het serum
blood serum
noun · /ˈseː.rʏm/
It is “het serum”. The plural is “de sera”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: serum
Forms
- Article
- het serum
- Plural
- de sera
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
We moeten het serum testen.
We need to test the serum.
Het serum moet koel bewaard worden.
The serum must be stored cool.
De arts onderzoekt het serum op antistoffen.
The doctor examines the serum for antibodies.
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 serum” rather than as “serum” 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.