Breakdown of Vi bliver her indtil toget ankommer.
her
here
vi
we
blive
to stay / to become
toget
the train
ankomme
to arrive
indtil
until
Questions & Answers about Vi bliver her indtil toget ankommer.
Why does bliver mean "are staying" here? Doesn't it usually mean "become"?
You are exactly right! The verb at blive most commonly means "to become" or "to be". However, when you use it with a specific location, such as her (here) or hjemme (at home), it means "to stay" or "to remain". So Vi bliver her perfectly translates to "We are staying here".
How does the conjunction indtil affect the word order in this sentence?
The word indtil (until) is a subordinating conjunction, meaning it introduces a dependent clause (indtil toget ankommer). In Danish subordinate clauses, the subject (toget) still comes right before the verb (ankommer), just like in the main clause. The special word order rule for subordinate clauses would only become visible if we had an adverb like ikke (not), which would have to be placed between the subject and the verb.
Why do we use the present tense ankommer if the train is arriving in the future?
Just like the English translation ("until the train arrives"), Danish often uses the present tense to talk about scheduled future events or conditions. You don't need to construct a complex future tense here; the present tense ankommer handles it naturally.
Why is the word for train written as toget instead of just tog?
The word tog (train) is an et-word (a neuter noun). Because Danish puts "the" at the end of the word, you attach the definite suffix -et directly to the noun to say "the train", giving you toget.
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