Breakdown of Det var første gang jeg var i Danmark.
jeg
I
være
to be
det
it (neuter)
i
in
første
first
gangen
the time (occasion)
Danmark
Denmark
Questions & Answers about Det var første gang jeg var i Danmark.
Why does the Danish sentence say første gang instead of den første gang for "the first time"?
In Danish, when you use an ordinal number like første (first) or anden (second) together with gang (time), you usually leave out the definite article den. So, while English says "the first time", Danish just says første gang.
Is there a missing word between gang and jeg?
You could put the word at (that) here, making it første gang at jeg var i Danmark. However, just like in English where you can drop "that" and say "the first time I was", it is very common and natural in Danish to drop at in this structure.
If I wanted to add ikke (not) to say "the first time I was not in Denmark", where would it go?
It would go before the verb, making it første gang jeg ikke var i Danmark. This happens because the second part of the sentence is a subordinate clause (a dependent clause), and in Danish, small adverbs like ikke must come before the verb in these clauses.
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