Breakdown of Hvis du var mig, hvad ville du gøre?
være
to be
du
you
hvad
what
mig
me
ville
want to / will
hvis
if
gøre
to do / to make (cause to be)
Questions & Answers about Hvis du var mig, hvad ville du gøre?
Why do we use the past tense var when asking about a situation right now?
Just like in English ('If you were me'), Danish uses the simple past tense var to talk about an imaginary or hypothetical situation in the present.
Why is it var mig (were me) instead of var jeg (were I)?
In everyday Danish, you use the object pronoun mig after the verb at være (to be) in this kind of expression. It works exactly like the English phrase 'If you were me'.
How does Danish form the 'would do' part of the sentence?
To express what you 'would' do in an imaginary scenario, Danish uses ville (the past tense of vil, meaning will or want to) followed by the dictionary form (infinitive) of the action verb, which here is gøre.
What is the word order rule for the second half of the sentence, hvad ville du gøre?
The second half is a direct question starting with the question word hvad (what). In Danish questions, the verb must immediately follow the question word. So the verb ville swaps places with the subject du, giving us hvad ville du gøre.
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