Word
Når han ser rodet, smider han det væk.
Meaning
Whenever he sees the mess, he throws it away.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about Når han ser rodet, smider han det væk.
Why is væk at the very end instead of right after smider?
Smider væk is a separable phrasal verb. When the object is a pronoun like det (it), the short word or particle (væk) must go after the object. Just like in English, you say smider det væk (throws it away), not smider væk det.
Why is it smider han and not han smider in the second half of the sentence?
This happens because of the V2 (verb-second) rule. The entire first phrase Når han ser rodet counts as the first piece of information. To keep the main verb in the second position, smider has to come right after the comma, swapping places with the subject han.
Does når mean when or whenever?
It can mean both! Danish uses når for things that happen repeatedly or in the future. If this sentence were about a single specific event in the past (like When he saw the mess yesterday), you would have to use the word da instead.
Why does the word for mess (rod) end in -et here?
Because rod is an et-word. To say the mess, you take the definite article et and attach it to the end of the noun, making it rodet.