Breakdown of Når drengen spiser hvidløget, kan den onde heks ikke finde ham.
drengen
the boy
spise
to eat
ikke
not
finde
to find
den
the (common, before adjective)
ham
him
kunne
to be able to / can
når
when
hvidløget
the garlic
ond
evil
heksen
the witch
Questions & Answers about Når drengen spiser hvidløget, kan den onde heks ikke finde ham.
Why is it kan den onde heks instead of den onde heks kan?
The first part of the sentence, Når drengen spiser hvidløget, is a subordinate clause. In Danish, when a sentence starts with a whole clause like this, it takes up position one. The V2 rule states the verb must be in position two, so the main verb kan swaps places with the subject den onde heks right after the comma.
Why is the word ikke placed after the long subject den onde heks?
In a main clause with inversion (where the verb comes before the subject), the rule for word order is: Verb (kan) then Subject (den onde heks) then Adverb (ikke). Even though the subject is three words long, ikke still has to wait until after the entire subject.
Why is it den onde heks for 'the evil witch' instead of just onde heksen?
When you describe a specific, definite noun with an adjective, Danish uses a separate front article (den, det, or de) and adds an -e to the adjective (onde). The noun itself drops its back ending, leaving just heks.
Could I use da instead of når for 'when' in this sentence?
No, you must use når. In Danish, da is strictly used for a single, specific event in the past. Because this sentence is in the present tense (spiser, kan) and describes a general condition, når is the correct word.
Why does 'the garlic' end in -et (hvidløget) while 'the boy' ends in -en (drengen)?
This is because of noun genders. Garlic is a neuter noun (et hvidløg), so its definite form takes the -et suffix. Boy is a common gender noun (en dreng), so it takes the -en suffix.
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