de of het sleutelbeen?
het sleutelbeen
collarbone
noun · /ˈsløːtəlˌbeːn/
It is “het sleutelbeen”. The plural is “de sleutelbenen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: sleutelbeen
Forms
- Article
- het sleutelbeen
- Plural
- de sleutelbenen
- Diminutive
- het sleutelbeentje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Hij brak zijn sleutelbeen bij het skiën.
He broke his collarbone while skiing.
Haar sleutelbeen was duidelijk zichtbaar onder haar huid.
Her collarbone was clearly visible under her skin.
Ik heb pijn aan mijn sleutelbeen na die val.
I have pain in my collarbone after that fall.
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 sleutelbeen” rather than as “sleutelbeen” 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.