de of het tegengif?
het tegengif
antidote
noun · /ˈteː.ɣə(n)ˌɣɪf/
It is “het tegengif”. The plural is “de tegengiffen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: tegengif
Forms
- Article
- het tegengif
- Plural
- de tegengiffen
- Diminutive
- het tegengifje
- How common
- among the 10,000 most common Dutch words
In a sentence
Hij heeft snel het tegengif nodig.
He quickly needs the antidote.
Waar bewaren ze het tegengif?
Where do they keep the antidote?
Het tegengif werkte gelukkig meteen.
The antidote fortunately worked immediately.
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 tegengif” rather than as “tegengif” 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.