Breakdown of Vi bor i det tredje hus.
huset
the house
vi
we
bo
to live
i
in
det
the (neuter, before adjective)
tredje
third
Questions & Answers about Vi bor i det tredje hus.
Why does this sentence use det for "the" instead of putting -et at the end of hus?
In Danish, when a noun has a describing word (like the number tredje) in front of it, you must use a separate word for "the" (den, det, or de) instead of attaching an ending to the noun. So "the house" is huset, but "the third house" is det tredje hus.
How do I know whether to use det or den before tredje?
It depends on the gender of the noun. hus is an et-word (et hus), so we use det. If we were talking about an en-word like bil (car), we would use den, as in den tredje bil.
Could I say Vi lever i det tredje hus instead?
No. Danish has two common words for "live". bor is used for where you reside (like a house, street, or city). lever means "to be alive" or refers to the way you live your life. Since this is about a physical address, you must use bor.
Is tredje treated like an adjective here?
Yes! Ordinal numbers like tredje (third) and første (first) sit right between the definite article (det) and the noun, exactly where an adjective goes. They also naturally end in -e, which perfectly matches the Danish rule that adjectives get an -e ending when used with den, det, or de.
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