de of het vruchtwater?
het vruchtwater
amniotic fluid
noun · /ˈvrʏxtˌʋaː.tər/
It is “het vruchtwater”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: vruchtwater
Forms
- Article
- het vruchtwater
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Haar vruchtwater brak midden in de nacht.
Her amniotic fluid broke in the middle of the night.
Vruchtwater beschermt de baby tegen schokken.
Amniotic fluid protects the baby against shocks.
Er was voldoende vruchtwater voor de baby.
There was enough amniotic fluid for the baby.
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 vruchtwater” rather than as “vruchtwater” 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.