Word
Hun er ikke skyldig i mordet, vel?
Meaning
She is not guilty of the murder, is she?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Hun er ikke skyldig i mordet, vel?
Why is the tag question vel used here instead of ikke også?
In Danish, the tag question changes depending on whether the main sentence is positive or negative. Because this sentence contains ikke (not), it is a negative statement. To ask for confirmation (like 'is she?' or 'right?') after a negative statement, you must use vel. If the sentence were positive, you would use ikke også.
Why does the sentence use the preposition i for 'of'?
Prepositions rarely translate word-for-word between languages! While in English you are guilty 'of' a crime, in Danish you are guilty 'in' a crime (skyldig i). This is a fixed combination that is best memorized together.
How is the word mordet formed?
The base word for 'murder' is a neuter noun: et mord. To say 'the murder', you take that et and attach it to the end of the noun as a suffix, which gives you mordet.
Would the adjective skyldig change if the subject was plural?
Yes. Because the subject hun (she) is singular, we use the basic form skyldig. If the subject were plural, such as de (they), you would need to add an 'e' to the end of the adjective to make it agree with the subject: skyldige.