Questions & Answers about Jeg ved at hun kender ham.
Why does the sentence use both ved and kender for the English word "know"?
In Danish, there are two different verbs for "to know". Use ved (from the verb at vide) when you know a fact or a piece of information, such as knowing that something is true. Use kender (from the verb at kende) when you are familiar with a person, place, or thing. In this sentence, you know a fact (ved) about her being familiar with a person (kender).
What is the role of at in this sentence?
Here, at means "that". It is a subordinating conjunction, which is simply a linking word that connects a main sentence (jeg ved) to a secondary sentence or clause (hun kender ham). It works exactly like "that" does in the English sentence "I know that she knows him."
Can I leave out the word at, like we often drop "that" in English?
Yes! In everyday spoken Danish, the conjunction at is sometimes dropped, just as you might say "I know she knows him" in English. However, it is very common and natural to keep it, especially in writing. While you are learning, it is great practice to include it.
Why is it ham instead of han at the end of the sentence?
Ham means "him", which is the object form of han ("he"). Because the man is the one receiving the action (he is the person being known), you must use the object pronoun ham, exactly like in English.