Breakdown of Er samfundet godt for de ældre?
være
to be
god
good
de
the (plural, before adjective)
for
for (preposition)
Questions & Answers about Er samfundet godt for de ældre?
Why does de ældre mean 'the elderly' without a noun attached to it?
Here, the adjective ældre acts as a noun. In Danish, just like in English ('the rich', 'the poor'), you can put a definite plural article like de in front of an adjective to talk about an entire group of people. You do not need to add a word like 'people' after it.
Doesn't ældre actually mean 'older'?
Yes! Ældre is the comparative form of gammel (old). In Danish, it is considered much more polite to refer to senior citizens as 'the older' (de ældre) rather than 'the old' (de gamle).
Why is it godt with a 't' at the end, instead of just god?
The adjective has to match the noun it describes. Samfund (society) is an et word (neuter). Because we are describing samfundet, we must add a t to god to make it godt.
Why is it samfundet (the society) when the English translation just says 'society'?
In Danish, when you talk about society as a general, overarching concept, you almost always use the definite form (samfundet). English drops the word 'the' in these general cases, but Danish keeps it.