Word
Er de unge en ensom generation?
Meaning
Are the young a lonely generation?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Er de unge en ensom generation?
være
to be
en
a / an (common)
de
the (plural, before adjective)
ung
young
Questions & Answers about Er de unge en ensom generation?
How does de unge work here since ung is usually an adjective?
This is a nominalised adjective, meaning an adjective acting as a noun. Just like in English ('the young'), Danish uses the plural definite article de plus the plural form of the adjective (unge) to mean 'the young people'.
Why doesn't de unge need a noun after it, like mennesker (people)?
In Danish, when you use a definite article like de (the) with an adjective describing a group of people, the noun is understood. You could say de unge mennesker, but just saying de unge is very common and natural.
If I wanted to talk about just one young person, how would I use this rule?
To say 'the young person', you use the singular definite article den followed by the adjective with its definite -e ending: den unge.
Why does ensom not end in -e like unge does?
Because they follow different grammar rules! de unge is definite and plural, so the adjective needs an -e. But en ensom generation is an indefinite and singular phrase. Since generation is a common gender word (using en), ensom stays in its basic form without an -e.