Questions & Answers about Drengen har cyklen og uret.
Since the subject is 'The boy', does the verb har change like it does in English (have vs. has)?
No, Danish verbs are much simpler! The verb har is the present tense for all subjects. Whether it is jeg har (I have), vi har (we have), or drengen har (the boy has), the verb stays exactly the same.
Where is the word for 'the' in this sentence?
In Danish, 'the' is attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word in front of it. That is why dreng (boy) becomes drengen (the boy), cykel becomes cyklen, and ur becomes uret.
The word for a bicycle is en cykel. Why is 'the bicycle' spelled cyklen instead of cykelen?
When a Danish noun ends in -el (like cykel), the extra -e- usually drops out when you add the ending for 'the'. This makes it easier to say and spells exactly how it sounds: cyklen.
Why does 'the bicycle' end in -en (cyklen) but 'the watch' ends in -et (uret)?
This is because Danish nouns have two genders. Cykel is a common gender noun (an en word), so it takes the -en ending. Ur is a neuter gender noun (an et word), so it takes the -et ending to mean 'the'.