Breakdown of Prisen som de betalte for mærket, var høj.
være
to be
de
they
betale
to pay
høj
tall, high
for
for (preposition)
som
who, which, that (relative pronoun)
prisen
the price
mærket
the brand
Questions & Answers about Prisen som de betalte for mærket, var høj.
Is som the subject or the object of the relative clause here?
It is the object! The subject of the relative clause is de (they), because they are the ones doing the paying. som stands in for Prisen (the price), which is the thing being paid.
Can I leave out som in this sentence?
Yes, you can! Just like in English, where you can say 'The price that they paid' or 'The price they paid', in Danish you can drop som when it acts as the object of the relative clause. So, Prisen de betalte for mærket, var høj is also perfectly correct.
Why does the verb var come right after the comma?
This is a great example of the Danish V2 (verb-second) rule! The entire first chunk of the sentence, Prisen som de betalte for mærket (The price that they paid for the brand), acts as the main subject. Since that long phrase takes up position 1, the main verb var must take position 2 immediately after it.
Why does mærket end in -t?
mærket is the definite form ('the brand') of the neuter noun et mærke (a brand). To make a neuter noun definite in Danish, you attach -t or -et to the end.
Why is the adjective høj rather than højt?
The adjective høj (high) describes Prisen (the price). Since en pris is a common gender noun (an en-word), the adjective takes its basic form høj without the neuter -t ending.
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