de of het speeksel?
het speeksel
saliva
noun · /ˈspeːk.səl/
It is “het speeksel”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: speeksel
Forms
- Article
- het speeksel
- Also means
- spit
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Het speeksel maakt ons eten nat.
The saliva moistens our food.
Een hond kan veel speeksel produceren.
A dog can produce a lot of saliva.
Door speeksel begin je beter te proeven.
Through saliva, you start to taste better.
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 speeksel” rather than as “speeksel” 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.