Breakdown of Hun har haft hovedpine hele dagen.
hun
she
have
to have
hel
whole
dagen
the day
hovedpinen
the headache
Questions & Answers about Hun har haft hovedpine hele dagen.
Why is it har haft here?
This is the present perfect tense, just like in English ("has had"). Har is the present tense of at have (to have), and haft is its irregular past participle (had).
Why isn't there an article before hovedpine? Shouldn't it be "en hovedpine"?
In Danish, when talking about common illnesses or aches, you usually leave out the indefinite article (en or et). So while in English you say "I have a headache", in Danish you just say hun har hovedpine (literally "she has headache").
How is the word hovedpine built?
It is a compound word made of hoved (head) and pine (pain or ache). Danish uses pine to form several words for aches, like tandpine (toothache) and mavepine (stomachache).
Why does dag have the -en ending in hele dagen?
The word hele (whole or all) requires the noun that follows it to be in the definite form. Because dag is an en-word, it takes the -en ending, making it hele dagen (literally "whole the-day").
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