de of het sinaasappelsap?
het sinaasappelsap
orange juice
noun · /ˈsi.naː.zɑ.pəlˌsɑp/
It is “het sinaasappelsap”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: sinaasappelsap
Forms
- Article
- het sinaasappelsap
- Diminutive
- het sinaasappelsapje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik drink graag sinaasappelsap.
I like to drink orange juice.
Het sinaasappelsap staat in de koelkast.
The orange juice is in the fridge.
Zal ik wat sinaasappelsap inschenken?
Shall I pour some orange juice?
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 sinaasappelsap” rather than as “sinaasappelsap” 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.