Past Opinions with "Syntes"
When you want to express a subjective opinion about something in the past (what you thought of a play, a match, or an event), use the past tense of the verb synes.
The past tense of synes is syntes. It looks very similar to the present tense, but notice the extra t.
Like in the present tense, it is often followed by the conjunction at (that). Because you are describing your past impression of an event, the verb inside the statement will typically be in the past tense too, such as var (was).
| I thought that the play was boring. | Jeg syntes at skuespillet var kedeligt. |
| They thought that the atmosphere was lovely. | De syntes at stemningen var dejlig. |
Asking and Comparing Opinions
To ask someone what they thought, invert the subject and the verb to form a question:
| Did you think that the ending was perfect? | Syntes du at slutningen var perfekt? |
You can also use syntes to contrast different people's impressions of the same event by connecting their thoughts with men (but):
| He thought that the play was lovely, but we thought that it was boring. | Han syntes at skuespillet var dejligt, men vi syntes at det var kedeligt. |
| She thought that the food was strange, but I thought that it was perfect. | Hun syntes at maden var mærkelig, men jeg syntes at den var perfekt. |
And naturally, it works perfectly when comparing two different experiences:
| I thought that the match was better than the film. | Jeg syntes at kampen var bedre end filmen. |