Breakdown of Kvinden er en fremmed, så vi kender hende ikke.
være
to be
kvinden
the woman
en
a / an (common)
vi
we
ikke
not
kende
to know
hende
her
så
then, so
fremmed
foreign
Questions & Answers about Kvinden er en fremmed, så vi kender hende ikke.
Why do we use kender here instead of ved for 'know'?
In Danish, there are two common verbs for 'to know'. We use kende (present tense kender) when we talk about being familiar or acquainted with a person, place, or thing. Because we are talking about a person here (hende, meaning 'her'), we must use kender. We use vide (present tense ved) when we know a fact or a piece of information.
Why does ikke come at the very end of the sentence instead of right after the verb?
Normally in a main clause, ikke comes right after the verb. But Danish has a special rule for short object pronouns like hende (her), ham (him), or den/det (it). If the sentence has no helper verb, these short pronouns jump in front of ikke. That is why we say vi kender hende ikke instead of vi kender ikke hende.
Is fremmed an adjective or a noun in this sentence?
It is used as a noun here! En fremmed simply means 'a stranger'. The word fremmed is also commonly used as an adjective meaning 'strange', 'foreign', or 'unfamiliar'.
Does the word så change the word order in the second half of the sentence?
No, så acts as a coordinating conjunction here (meaning 'so' or 'therefore'), just like og (and). Because it simply links two main clauses, the second clause keeps normal word order: subject (vi) then verb (kender). If så meant 'then' (like 'first this, then that'), it would force the verb to come before the subject.
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