de of het venijn?
het venijn
venom
noun
It is “het venijn”. The plural is “de venijnen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: venijn
Forms
- Article
- het venijn
- Plural
- de venijnen
- Also means
- poison
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
De slang spuit zijn venijn.
The snake spits its venom.
Haar opmerking bevatte veel venijn.
Her remark contained a lot of venom.
Het venijn zit hem in de staart.
The sting is in the tail.
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 venijn” rather than as “venijn” 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.