Breakdown of Vi blev meget overrasket.
vi
we
blive
to stay / to become
meget
very; much, a lot
overrasket
surprised
Questions & Answers about Vi blev meget overrasket.
Why does this sentence use blev instead of var for "were"?
blev is the past tense of blive (to become). Danish often uses blive to form the passive voice or to show a sudden change of state. Using blev overrasket means you "got surprised" or "became surprised" at that specific moment. If you said Vi var meget overraskede, it would mean you were already in an ongoing state of surprise.
Since vi (we) is plural, shouldn't overrasket end in an "-e" as overraskede?
You have a good eye! Normally, adjectives get an -e to match a plural subject. However, overrasket is a past participle (a verb acting like an adjective). In Danish, when these -et words are used to describe a subject, adding the plural -e is actually optional. Both overrasket and overraskede are perfectly correct here, but dropping the -e is very common in everyday speech.
How do I pronounce meget? It never sounds the way it looks!
meget is one of the most common words in Danish, but its pronunciation tricks many learners because the g is completely silent. In normal conversational speech, the word is shortened and sounds very close to the English word "mail" or "mel".
Is meget used the exact same way as the English word "very"?
In this sentence, yes! It acts just like "very" to make the surprise stronger. However, keep in mind that meget is also the Danish word for "much" or "a lot." This means you can also use it directly after a verb, such as Vi snakker meget (We talk a lot), which you cannot do with the English word "very".
Learn Vi blev meget overrasket and more in Danish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free