"By Nature": Inherent Traits
To describe someone's deep-rooted personality or inherent character, Danish uses the phrase af sig (literally "of oneself", translating to "by nature"). This phrase is typically placed directly after an adjective that describes the trait.
Because the phrase reflects back on the subject, the pronoun must change to match who you are talking about:
| Subject | Phrase |
|---|---|
| jeg | af mig |
| du | af dig |
| han / hun / den / det | af sig |
| vi | af os |
| I | af jer |
| de | af sig |
Notice how the third-person subjects (han, hun, and de) all share the same reflexive pronoun: sig.
| The personality test shows that you are very meticulous by nature. | Personlighedstesten viser at du er meget omhyggelig af dig. |
| She works as a writer and is very introverted and reserved by nature. | Hun arbejder som forfatter og er meget indadvendt og tilbageholdende af sig. |
| Are we really that sensitive and cooperative by nature? | Er vi virkelig så følsomme og samarbejdsvillige af os? |
Discussing Personality Profiles
When discussing the results of a personlighedstest (personality test), you will encounter many adjectives to describe character, such as analytisk (analytical), temperamentsfuld (temperamental), or samarbejdsvillig (cooperative).
Remember that these adjectives still follow standard agreement rules, taking an -e ending when the subject is plural. The structure with af [pronoun] follows right behind the adjective.
| According to the personality test, they are quite temperamental and impulsive by nature. | Ifølge personlighedstesten er de ret temperamentsfulde og impulsive af sig. |
| He is analytical by nature, so he reads the result very thoroughly. | Han er analytisk af sig, så han læser resultatet meget grundigt. |
| We are not temperamental by nature, but we are always cooperative. | Vi er ikke temperamentsfulde af os, men vi er altid samarbejdsvillige. |