de of het vruchtensap?
het vruchtensap
fruit juice
noun
It is “het vruchtensap”. The plural is “de vruchtensappen”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: vruchtensap
Forms
- Article
- het vruchtensap
- Plural
- de vruchtensappen
- Diminutive
- het vruchtensapje
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Ik drink graag vruchtensap.
I like to drink fruit juice.
Wil je wat vruchtensap?
Do you want some fruit juice?
Het vruchtensap staat in de koelkast.
The fruit juice is in the fridge.
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 vruchtensap” rather than as “vruchtensap” 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.