Breakdown of Gæsten kommer til at spilde vinen og ødelægge tæppet.
og
and
tæppet
the rug
gæsten
the guest
vinen
the wine
Questions & Answers about Gæsten kommer til at spilde vinen og ødelægge tæppet.
Why use kommer til at instead of vil to say 'is going to' here?
In Danish, vil very often implies intention or wanting to do something. Because spilling wine and ruining a carpet is an accident, we use kommer til at. This phrase perfectly expresses an unintended or inevitable future event.
Do I need to repeat at before the second verb, ødelægge?
No, you do not. When two verbs are joined by og (and) after this future tense structure, kommer til at applies to both. The first verb (spilde) gets the infinitive marker at, and the second verb (ødelægge) just stays in its bare infinitive form.
Why does 'the wine' end in -en (vinen) but 'the carpet' ends in -t (tæppet)?
This is a quick refresher on Danish noun genders. vin is a common gender noun (an en-word), so we add -en to say 'the wine'. tæppe is a neuter noun (an et-word) that already ends in 'e', so we just add -t to say 'the carpet'.
Where does the word ødelægge come from?
It translates to 'ruin' or 'destroy' and is a compound word. It is made of øde (waste or desolate) and lægge (to lay). So when the guest ruins the carpet, they are literally laying it to waste!