Breakdown of Drengen skal lade være med at bide negle.
drengen
the boy
at
to
skulle
to have to / must / to be going to
lade være med
to stop (doing something)
bide
to bite
neglen
the nail (finger, toe)
Questions & Answers about Drengen skal lade være med at bide negle.
How does lade være med at translate to "stop" here?
The phrase lade være med literally means "let be with." When you combine it with at and a verb, it means to refrain from an action or to stop doing it. Here, lade være med at bide means "stop biting."
Why is lade in the infinitive form here instead of a command?
It is in the infinitive because it directly follows the modal verb skal (must). Modal verbs are always followed by the dictionary form of a verb. If you were giving a direct command to the boy, you would drop skal and use the imperative form: Lad være med at bide negle! (Stop biting your nails!).
The English translation says "his nails." Why is there no word for "his" in the Danish sentence?
In Danish, when you do something to your own body parts, you generally leave out the possessive pronoun (like his, my, or your) because it is obvious from the context. Saying just negle (nails) is the most natural way to express this.
Do I always need to include at after lade være med?
You only need at when the phrase is followed by another verb. Because bide (bite) is an action, you need at (to) to link them. If you were asking someone to stop a thing rather than an action, you would drop at, for example: Han skal lade være med det (He must stop that).
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