Breakdown of Kender du ejeren af solbrillerne?
du
you
kende
to know
af
of
ejeren
the owner
solbrillerne
the sunglasses
Questions & Answers about Kender du ejeren af solbrillerne?
Why do we use kender here instead of ved for "know"?
In Danish, kender is used when you are familiar with a person, place, or thing. You use ved when you know a fact or a piece of information. Because we are talking about being acquainted with a person (the owner), kender is the correct choice.
Could I use an s-genitive and say solbrillernes ejer instead of ejeren af solbrillerne?
Yes, you can! Both solbrillernes ejer (the sunglasses' owner) and ejeren af solbrillerne (the owner of the sunglasses) are completely correct. Using af to show possession is very common in Danish, especially when the "owner" of the trait is an inanimate object like sunglasses.
If someone wanted to claim the sunglasses by answering "They are mine", how would they use a standalone possessive pronoun?
They would say De er mine. Because the word solbriller (sunglasses) is plural, the standalone possessive pronoun must also be in its plural form, mine (instead of min or mit). It acts as a direct substitute for the full noun phrase mine solbriller.
Why does solbrillerne end in -ne?
The base word here is solbriller, which is already in its plural form (sun + glasses). In Danish, to make a plural noun definite ("the"), you attach the plural definite suffix -ne to the end. So solbriller becomes solbrillerne.
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