Breakdown of De kender ikke det nye kvarter.
de
they
ikke
not
kende
to know
ny
new
det
the (neuter, before adjective)
kvarteret
the neighborhood
Questions & Answers about De kender ikke det nye kvarter.
Why do we use kender here instead of ved for "know"?
Kende is used when you are familiar with a person, place, or thing (like being acquainted with a neighborhood). You use vide (which becomes ved in the present tense) when you know a fact, a skill, or a piece of information. Since the sentence is about knowing a physical place, kender is the correct choice.
Why is it det nye kvarter instead of just det ny kvarter?
When you have a definite article like det (the) in front of an adjective, the adjective almost always takes an -e at the end. So the basic adjective ny becomes nye. We use det here because kvarter is an et-word (a neuter noun).
Doesn't kvarter also have something to do with time?
Yes! You probably remember et kvarter from learning to tell time, where it means "a quarter of an hour" (15 minutes). The word basically means "a quarter" or "a fourth part," which is why it is also used to describe a city "quarter" or neighborhood.
Why does ikke come after the verb kender?
In a standard Danish main clause, the verb must always be in the second position (the V2 rule). Since the subject De is in the first position, the verb kender must come second. Adverbs like ikke (not) generally come immediately after that first verb.
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