Breakdown of Jeg tror at det her smykke er ægte.
jeg
I
være
to be
at
that
tro
to believe
den her
this
smykket
the piece of jewelry
ægte
genuine
Questions & Answers about Jeg tror at det her smykke er ægte.
Why do we use det her instead of den her?
The word for jewelry is et smykke, which is a neuter (t-word) noun. Because it is neuter, the word for this pointing to it must also be neuter, so we use det her. If the word was a common gender (n-word) like en ring (a ring), you would use den her ring.
Does the noun smykke need a special ending after det her?
No, it stays in its basic dictionary form. When you use the colloquial demonstratives den her, det her, den der, or det der, the noun that follows is always in the indefinite form without the -en or -et attached to the end. So it is correctly written as det her smykke, and never det her smykket.
Could I use synes instead of tror to mean I think?
Not in this context. You must use tror when you are guessing or stating a belief about an objective fact, like whether the jewelry is actually real or fake. You use synes to express a subjective personal opinion, like if you wanted to say: Jeg synes at det her smykke er pænt (I think this jewelry is pretty).
Why doesn't the adjective ægte get a -t ending since it describes a neuter noun?
Normally, adjectives add a -t when describing a neuter noun (an et-word). However, adjectives that already end in an -e in their basic form, like ægte (genuine) or stille (quiet), are exceptions. They never change their ending, regardless of gender or whether the noun is plural.
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