de of het stuifmeel?
het stuifmeel
pollen
noun · /ˈstœy̯fmeːl/
It is “het stuifmeel”. The plural is “de stuifmelen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: stuifmeel
Forms
- Article
- het stuifmeel
- Plural
- de stuifmelen
- Diminutive
- het stuifmeeltje
- Also means
- stive
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik ben allergisch voor stuifmeel.
I am allergic to pollen.
Overal ligt geel stuifmeel op de auto.
Yellow pollen is everywhere on the car.
Bijen verzamelen stuifmeel voor hun honing.
Bees collect pollen for their honey.
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 stuifmeel” rather than as “stuifmeel” 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.