de of het slaapmiddel?
het slaapmiddel
sleeping pill
noun
It is “het slaapmiddel”. The plural is “de slaapmiddelen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: slaapmiddel
Forms
- Article
- het slaapmiddel
- Plural
- de slaapmiddelen
- Diminutive
- het slaapmiddeltje
- Also means
- somnifacient
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij nam een slaapmiddel voor het slapengaan.
He took a sleeping pill before going to bed.
Heeft u een slaapmiddel nodig?
Do you need a sleeping pill?
Dit slaapmiddel is erg effectief.
This sleeping pill is very effective.
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 slaapmiddel” rather than as “slaapmiddel” 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.