Breakdown of Han bruger meget tid på sit arbejde.
han
he
sit
his/her/its own (neuter)
arbejdet
the work
bruge tid på
to spend time on
Questions & Answers about Han bruger meget tid på sit arbejde.
Why does the sentence use bruger instead of a word that means "spends"?
In Danish, you don't "spend" time, you "use" it. The verb bruger comes from at bruge, which means "to use". So the Danish phrase bruger tid literally translates to "uses time".
Why is it meget tid and not mange tid?
Tid (time) is an uncountable noun here. You use meget for uncountable things, meaning "much" or "a lot of", and mange for countable things, meaning "many".
Is på always the right preposition when talking about spending time on something?
Yes, the fixed expression is at bruge tid på something. While prepositions can be unpredictable between languages, here på lines up perfectly with the English "on".
Why does it say sit arbejde instead of hans arbejde?
Because han (he) is the subject of the sentence, and he is spending time on his own work. If the sentence used hans, it would mean he is spending time on another man's work.
Why is the reflexive pronoun sit instead of sin?
The reflexive pronoun has to match the grammatical gender of the noun it describes. Because work is an et-word (et arbejde), you must use the neuter form sit instead of the common-gender form sin.
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