Breakdown of Drengen vasker sin ryg og sit bryst.
og
and
drengen
the boy
sin
his/her/its own (common)
vaske
to wash
sit
his/her/its own (neuter)
ryggen
the back
brystet
the chest
Questions & Answers about Drengen vasker sin ryg og sit bryst.
Why does this sentence use sin and sit instead of hans for "his"?
In Danish, sin and sit are reflexive possessives. You use them when the subject of the sentence (here, Drengen) owns the thing being talked about. If we wrote Drengen vasker hans ryg, using hans, it would mean the boy is washing a completely different boy's back!
Why does the word for "his" change from sin to sit in the same sentence?
The possessive word has to match the gender of the noun it belongs to. Because ryg (back) is an en-word, it uses sin. Because bryst (chest) is an et-word, it uses sit.
Is vasker used for washing yourself, or can it be used for washing objects too?
Vasker (from the verb at vaske) is used for both! You can use it when washing body parts, like in this sentence, or when washing things like clothes, dishes, or a car.
How does Drengen translate to "The boy" without a separate word for "the"?
In Danish, you make a noun definite (adding "the") by attaching an ending instead of using a separate word. Dreng means "boy" (an en-word), so adding -en to the very end gives you Drengen ("the boy").
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