Breakdown of Solbrillerne er deres, ikke vores.
være
to be
ikke
not
vores
our / ours
deres
their / theirs
solbrillerne
the sunglasses
Questions & Answers about Solbrillerne er deres, ikke vores.
Do deres and vores change form when they stand alone as "theirs" and "ours"?
No, and that makes them very easy to use! In English, we change "our" to "ours" and "their" to "theirs" when they stand alone. In Danish, deres and vores look exactly the same whether they are in front of a noun or standing alone as noun substitutes.
Why doesn't deres or vores take a plural ending to match solbrillerne?
While many Danish possessive pronouns change to match the gender and number of the noun they own (like min, mit, mine), vores and deres are exceptions. They never change form, so you use them exactly as they are for singular, plural, and both grammatical genders.
How does the word solbrillerne break down?
It is a compound word combined with a definite ending. Sol means sun, and briller means glasses. Because we are talking about specific sunglasses ("the sunglasses"), we add the plural definite suffix -ne to the end, making it solbrillerne.
Is it wrong to say ikke vores solbriller at the end instead?
It is not grammatically wrong, but it sounds very repetitive. Using vores as a standalone pronoun to mean "ours" is the most natural way to say this, just as you would drop the repeated noun in English.
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