de of het traangas?
het traangas
tear gas
noun · /ˈtraːn.ɣɑs/
It is “het traangas”. The plural is “de traangassen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: traangas
Forms
- Article
- het traangas
- Plural
- de traangassen
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De politie gebruikte traangas tegen de demonstranten.
The police used tear gas against the demonstrators.
De geur van traangas hing in de lucht.
The smell of tear gas hung in the air.
Mijn ogen brandden van het traangas.
My eyes were burning from the tear gas.
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 traangas” rather than as “traangas” 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.