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Danish

### The logical subject in infinitive clauses

In Danish, the reflexive pronouns *sin*, *sit*, and *sine* (his/her/its own) normally refer back to the grammatical subject of the sentence. But things get interesting when a sentence contains an infinitive clause with its own "logical subject".

When verbs like *beordre* (to order) or *instruere* (to instruct) are used to tell someone to do something, the person receiving the instruction becomes the logical subject of that new action. 

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In the sentence above, the grammatical subject is *direktøren* (the director), but the logical subject of the infinitive clause *at hente* (to fetch) is *assistenten* (the assistant). Therefore, *sin* refers to the assistant's car, not the director's. If the director wanted his own car fetched, we would use *hans* instead.

### Matching gender and number

As always, you must choose between *sin* (common gender), *sit* (neuter gender), and *sine* (plural) based on the noun being possessed, while the pronoun itself still points back to the logical subject of the clause. 

This rule applies even when the main grammatical subject is not in the third person.

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Here, the grammatical subject is *du* (you), which does not use *sin/sit/sine*. However, because *vikaren* (the temp) is the logical subject of using the card, and *adgangskort* is a neuter noun, we use *sit*.

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When the logical subject possesses multiple things—like *opgaver* (tasks)—you use the plural reflexive pronoun *sine*.

### Delegating and giving orders

Workplaces are full of situations where one person directs another. This grammar pattern is heavily used with verbs for delegating tasks, such as *at bede om* (to ask) and *at tvinge til* (to force). 

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In every case, identify who is actually performing the action in the infinitive clause. That person is your logical subject, and *sin*, *sit*, or *sine* will always refer back to them.

Reflexives in infinitive clauses (sin, sit, sine)

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
to order (to command)	beordre
the assistant	assistenten
The director orders the assistant to fetch his own car.	Direktøren beordrer assistenten til at hente sin bil.
the intern	praktikanten
for (after 'ask', introducing the request)	om
the notebook	notesbogen
He asks the intern to put her own notebook on the desk.	Han beder praktikanten om at lægge sin notesbog på skrivebordet.
to instruct	instruere
the substitute (teacher), the temp	vikaren
the access card	adgangskortet
You must instruct the temp in using his own access card.	Du skal instruere vikaren i at bruge sit adgangskort.
to delegate	delegere
She encourages the employee to delegate his own tasks because of the stress.	Hun opfordrer medarbejderen til at delegere sine opgaver på grund af stressen.
the procedure (formal process)	proceduren
The boss orders the temp to follow the procedure, unless the machine is broken.	Chefen beordrer vikaren til at følge proceduren medmindre maskinen er i stykker.
the guideline	retningslinjen
The teacher instructs the student to write the guideline in her own notebook.	Læreren instruerer eleven i at skrive retningslinjen i sin notesbog.
He had to ask the assistant to hand in her own access card.	Han måtte bede assistenten om at aflevere sit adgangskort.
The new procedure forces the intern to delegate his own work.	Den nye procedure tvinger praktikanten til at delegere sit arbejde.
The manager instructs both assistants to read the guideline.	Lederen instruerer begge assistenter i at læse retningslinjen.
We do not order the intern to use her own notebook.	Vi beordrer ikke praktikanten til at bruge sin egen notesbog.
It is important to delegate the responsibility for the access card.	Det er vigtigt at delegere ansvaret for adgangskortet.
Does the temp not know the procedure or the guideline for the project?	Kender vikaren ikke proceduren eller retningslinjen for projektet?
We have a substitute in Danish today.	Vi har vikar i dansk i dag.
The substitute is teaching the class math.	Vikaren underviser klassen i matematik.

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