Breakdown of Snart vil min datter rejse til byen.
byen
the city
min
my
datteren
the daughter
ville
want to / will
rejse
to travel / to leave, to depart
til
to (preposition) / for (purpose) / at (an event or occasion) / at (good at something)
snart
soon
Questions & Answers about Snart vil min datter rejse til byen.
Why is the verb vil placed before the subject min datter?
This is the V2 rule in action! In Danish, the main verb must be the second piece of information in the sentence. Because we started this sentence with the time word Snart (Soon), the verb vil (will) has to come next to take the second spot. The subject min datter is pushed to the third spot, swapping places with the verb.
Does vil mean "will" or "want to" here?
It can actually mean both! The Danish verb vil often translates to "want to" to express a desire. However, it is also used to express future plans, just like "will" in English. Here, it most likely means she is going to travel soon, but it could also mean she wants to travel soon.
Why doesn't the verb rejse have an "r" at the end for the present tense?
Because it comes directly after vil, which is a modal verb. Just like in English where we say "will travel" and not "will travels", Danish modal verbs are followed by the infinitive (the basic dictionary form) of the main verb. That is why we use rejse instead of the present tense rejser.
How does the word byen mean "the city"?
In Danish, the word for "the" isn't usually a separate word before the noun. Instead, it gets attached to the end of the noun. The basic word for "city" or "town" is by. Because it is an "en" word (common gender), we add -en to the end to make it byen (the city).
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