Breakdown of Pigen kunne ikke bestå prøven fordi den var svær.
være
to be
den
it (common)
pigen
the girl
ikke
not
Questions & Answers about Pigen kunne ikke bestå prøven fordi den var svær.
Why do we use kunne here, and what is its present tense form?
Kunne is the past tense of the modal verb at kunne (can/to be able to). Its present tense is kan. We use kunne here because the sentence is talking about an ability in the past: she could not pass.
Since this happened in the past, why isn't the verb bestå also in the past tense?
When you use a modal verb like kunne, the verb that follows it must be in the infinitive (dictionary) form, without the word at (to). Even though the action is in the past, the modal verb kunne already shows the tense, so bestå stays in the infinitive.
Why is the word 'it' translated as den instead of det?
In Danish, 'it' translates to den when it refers to an en-word (common gender) and det when referring to an et-word (neuter gender). Here, 'it' refers back to prøven (the test). Since prøve is an en-word (en prøve), we must use den.
Why is the adjective svær not written as svært?
Adjectives must match the gender of the noun they describe. Because it describes den (which stands for the en-word prøven), the adjective stays in its basic form svær. If it were describing an et-word, it would add a 't' to become svært.