Breakdown of Han vil gerne se den højeste statue.
han
he
se
to see / to look at
den
the (common, before adjective)
ville
want to / will
gerne
gladly / would like to
høj
tall, high
statuen
the statue
Questions & Answers about Han vil gerne se den højeste statue.
Why is it den højeste statue and not højeste statuen?
When you put an adjective before a definite noun, Danish uses a free article instead of attaching the definite ending to the noun. Because statue is an en word (common gender), we use the free article den. Then comes the adjective højeste, and finally the noun in its basic form statue.
How is the adjective højeste formed here?
To make the superlative form (tallest), we add -est to the basic adjective høj, making it højest. Because it is used with the definite article den, it must also take the definite adjective ending -e, resulting in højeste.
Why isn't the word at used before se to mean 'to see'?
The verb vil is a modal verb. In Danish, modal verbs are followed directly by the infinitive form of the next verb without using at (the Danish word for 'to'). So 'wants to see' is simply vil se.
How does the word gerne change the sentence?
By itself, Han vil se means 'He wants to see' and can sound quite direct. Adding the adverb gerne (which literally means gladly) softens the phrase, making it translate closer to 'He would like to see'. Pairing vil with gerne is the standard, polite way to express a desire in Danish.
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