Word
Respekten for de ældre forsvinder.
Meaning
The respect for the elderly is disappearing.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Respekten for de ældre forsvinder.
de
the (plural, before adjective)
forsvinde
to disappear
for
for (preposition)
respekten
the respect
Questions & Answers about Respekten for de ældre forsvinder.
Why is ældre, which is an adjective, used as a noun here?
In Danish, you can often use an adjective as a noun to talk about a whole group of people with that trait. By putting the plural word for 'the' (de) in front of ældre, it changes from describing someone as 'older' to meaning 'the older people' or 'the elderly'.
Isn't ældre the comparative form meaning 'older'? Why not use the regular word for old, gamle?
Yes, ældre literally means 'older'. In Danish, just like in English, saying de ældre (the older ones / the elderly) sounds more polite and respectful than saying de gamle (the old ones). Both work as nominalised adjectives, but de ældre is the standard, polite way to refer to senior citizens.
Why does the sentence use the definite form Respekten (the respect) instead of just Respekt?
In English, you might just say 'Respect for the elderly is disappearing' without 'The'. However, when a noun is followed by a prepositional phrase that defines it exactly like for de ældre, Danish strongly prefers to use the definite form with the -en ending.
Does the verb forsvinder mean 'disappears' or 'is disappearing'?
It translates to both! Danish does not have a separate '-ing' tense for ongoing actions. The single present tense form forsvinder covers both a general truth ('disappears') and something happening right now ('is disappearing').