Breakdown of I efteråret var vejret meget koldt.
være
to be
i
in
vejret
the weather
kold
cold
meget
very; much, a lot
efteråret
the autumn
Questions & Answers about I efteråret var vejret meget koldt.
Why do we use i for "in the autumn" here instead of til?
In Danish, we use i with seasons to talk about the past or the present, and til to talk about the future. Since the verb var (was) is in the past tense, i efteråret means this past autumn or last autumn. If you wanted to say "It will be cold in the autumn" (referring to the future), you would use til efteråret.
Notice that it says efteråret (the autumn). Do we always use the definite form with i for seasons?
Yes! When referring to a specific past or present season using i, Danish requires the definite form. Efterår is an et-word, so it gets the -et ending to become efteråret (the autumn).
Why does the verb var come before the subject vejret?
This happens because of the Danish V2 (verb-second) rule. The sentence starts with the time phrase I efteråret, which takes up the first position. The main verb must always be in the second position, so var comes next, pushing the subject vejret to the third position.
Why is there a -t at the end of koldt?
Adjectives must agree with the gender of the noun they describe. The noun here is vejret (the weather), which is an et-word (neuter). Because it is an et-word, we add a -t to the base adjective kold, making it koldt.
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