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### The Impersonal Possessive "Ens"

When making general statements about people, you already know the impersonal pronoun **man** (one / you). When you need to talk about something belonging to that general person, you use the possessive form **ens** (one's).

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Unlike possessives such as *min* or *din*, the word **ens** never changes its ending. It stays exactly the same regardless of whether the noun it owns is *en*, *et*, or plural.

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### General Statements and Well-being

In English, we often use the word "your" for general statements (like "Sleep is important for your health"). In Danish, it is much more natural to use **ens** to keep the statement truly universal, especially when discussing broad themes like health, mental well-being, and personal boundaries.

Notice how **ens** pairs perfectly with sentences that establish a general situation using **man**:

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One's (ens)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite nouns and the copula (-en, -et, er)

Indefinite articles (en, et)

Present tense verbs and word order (-r)

Plural subject pronouns (vi, I, de)

The verb to have (har)

Yes/No questions

Wh-questions (hvad, hvem, hvor)

Main clause negation (ikke)

Regular noun plurals (-er, -r)

Short noun plurals (-e)

Definite plurals (-ne)

Neuter adjective agreement (-t)

Plural adjective agreement (-e)

Adjectives with indefinite nouns

Adjectives with definite nouns (den / det / de ... -e)

Numbers 1 to 10

Numbers 11 to 20

Counting by tens to 100

Expressing age (er ... år)

Genitive possession (-s)

Singular possessives (min, din)

Third-person possessives (hans, hendes)

Plural possessives (vores, jeres, deres)

Reflexive possessives (sin, sit, sine)

Singular object pronouns (mig, dig)

Plural object pronouns (os, jer, dem)

The infinitive marker (at)

The modal verb can (kan)

The modal verb want to (vil)

The modal verb must (skal)

Negating modal verbs

Inversion after adverbs

Prepositions of position (i, på)

Prepositions of direction (til, fra)

Days of the week (mandag, tirsdag...)

Months of the year (januar, februar...)

Telling time (hel, halv, kvart)

Coordinating conjunctions (og, men, eller)

Subordinating conjunctions (at, fordi)

Subordinate clause negation

Commands (køb, vent, spis)

Zero-ending neuter plurals

The Human Body: Head and Face

The Human Body: Limbs and Torso

Personal Hygiene

Digital Life

Tools and Hardware

Emergency and Safety

Common Materials

Money and Payments

Short answers (Ja, det gør jeg)

Greetings (hej, godmorgen, farvel)

Thanks and apologies (tak, undskyld)

Jobs and nationalities (Hun er lærer)

Likes and dislikes (kan godt lide)

Somebody and something (nogen, noget, ingen)

How much? (meget, lidt, mere, nok)

With, by, over and under (med, ved, over, under)

Ordinals and dates (den første april)

Wishes for every occasion (tillykke, god bedring)

Times of day (om morgenen, om aftenen)

My day (stå op, gå i seng)

Past tense I: -ede and -te (i går)

My new hat (min nye hat, små, gamle)

Past tense II: irregular verbs (var, havde, gik)

Reacting in a conversation (nå, det lyder godt)

The family and irregular plurals (mænd, børn, fødder)

In the shop (Hvad koster det?)

Demonstratives: that and those (den, det, de)

Demonstratives: this and these (denne, dette, disse)

Adverbs of manner (-t)

Comparing things (-ere, end)

Superlative adjectives (-est)

Definite superlative adjectives (-este)

Irregular adjective comparison

Comparing long adjectives (mere, mest)

The reflexive pronoun (sig)

Reflexive verbs

Reciprocal verbs (-s)

Deponent verbs (-s)

Past opinions (syntes)

Present perfect tense with regular verbs (har... -et/-t)

Present perfect tense with irregular verbs (har...)

Present perfect tense with movement (er...)

Past perfect tense (havde / var...)

Question	Answer
one's	ens
mental	mental
the health (personal physical condition)	helbredet
A bad habit affects one's mental health.	En dårlig vane påvirker ens mentale helbred.
the well-being (physical comfort, wellness)	velværet
If one rests, it improves one's mental well-being.	Hvis man hviler sig, forbedrer det ens mentale velvære.
personal	personlig
the attitude	indstillingen
One's personal attitude means a lot for the result.	Ens personlige indstilling betyder meget for resultatet.
to exceed (a limit, a deadline); to cross (a boundary)	overskride
the private life	privatlivet
The colleague must not cross one's boundaries and disturb one's private life.	Kollegaen må ikke overskride ens grænser og forstyrre ens privatliv.
the focus	fokusset
A short pause improves one's focus.	En kort pause forbedrer ens fokus.
A good boss respects one's private life.	En god chef respekterer ens privatliv.
to maintain	vedligeholde
Eating healthily maintains one's health.	At spise sundt vedligeholder ens helbred.
If one is busy, stress can easily cross the boundary to one's private life.	Hvis man har travlt, kan stress nemt overskride grænsen til ens privatliv.
One's attitude changes everything because one believes in oneself.	Ens indstilling ændrer det hele fordi man tror på sig selv.
One's work must not destroy one's personal peace.	Ens arbejde må ikke ødelægge ens personlige ro.
Sleep is important for one's well-being.	Søvn er vigtig for ens velvære.
The noise destroys one's ability to maintain focus.	Støjen ødelægger ens evne til at vedligeholde fokus.
The project must not exceed the budget.	Projektet må ikke overskride budgettet.

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