Breakdown of Vi vil gerne beskytte de truede dyr.
vi
we
de
the (plural, before adjective)
ville
want to / will
gerne
gladly / would like to
beskytte
to protect
truet
endangered
dyret
the animal
Questions & Answers about Vi vil gerne beskytte de truede dyr.
Why do we use vil gerne here instead of just vil?
By itself, vil usually means 'want to' or 'will', which can sound very direct. Adding gerne softens the phrase to mean 'would like to', which is the most natural way to express a preference or polite wish in Danish.
Why is the word de used for 'the' instead of adding an ending to dyr?
When a noun is described by an adjective (like truede), Danish uses a separate independent article in front of the phrase instead of attaching a definite ending directly to the noun. Because the animals are plural here, we use the plural article de.
Is truede a verb or an adjective here?
It acts as an adjective meaning 'endangered' or 'threatened'. It is formed from the verb at true (to threaten), and it takes the extra -e ending here (becoming truede) to match the plural noun dyr.
How can you tell that dyr is plural in this sentence?
The word dyr (animal) is a neuter noun that looks exactly the same in the singular and the plural. We know it is plural here because it is preceded by the plural article de. If it were just one animal, the sentence would use the singular neuter article and say det truede dyr.
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