ter harte nemen

• te harte nemen, ten harte nemen

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ter harte nemen

1. to take to heart

• Ter and harte are fossilized dative forms that are largely obsolete in contemporary Dutch outside of set expressions.
• Ter is used with feminine nouns, whereas hart is neuter in contemporary Dutch, so one would expect ten harte nemen, a form which is indeed sometimes encountered. This form with ter is a relic of a time when the grammatical gender of hart was not necessarily neuter, but could be feminine.

• ter harte gaan