Breakdown of Vi skal køre hjem om to timer fordi vejen er tyve kilometer lang.
være
to be
køre
to drive / to ride (a bike) / to run (of a train or bus service)
vi
we
vejen
the road / the way (route to somewhere)
Questions & Answers about Vi skal køre hjem om to timer fordi vejen er tyve kilometer lang.
How does the measure construction tyve kilometer lang work without any extra connecting words?
When stating dimensions, Danish puts the measurement directly before the adjective. You just say the number, the unit (kilometer), and the dimension (lang) without adding any prepositions. It works exactly like the English phrase 'twenty kilometers long'.
Since the road is twenty kilometers, why doesn't the word kilometer have a plural ending?
Many standard metric units, such as kilometer, meter, and liter, keep their singular form even when they follow a plural number. Therefore, it is en kilometer but also tyve kilometer.
Could I use i instead of om to say 'in two hours'?
No, because they mean entirely different things. You use om to say when a future event starts, meaning 'two hours from now'. If you said i to timer, it would mean the action of driving lasts for a duration of two hours.
Why do we use hjem here instead of hjemme?
You use hjem because there is movement towards a destination (driving home). The word hjemme is only used when someone is already stationary at their house (being at home).