Breakdown of Denne revnede vase er jo helt ødelagt.
være
to be
vasen
the vase
denne
this (common)
ødelægge
to ruin / to destroy
helt
completely
jo
you know (modal particle, shared knowledge)
revne
to crack
Questions & Answers about Denne revnede vase er jo helt ødelagt.
Why is the word for cracked spelled revnede and not just revnet?
Revnede is the past participle of the verb at revne (to crack), used here as an adjective describing the vase (an attributive adjective). Because it comes after the definite word denne (this), it needs the definite adjective ending, which is an extra -e.
Since revnede gets an extra -e, why does ødelagt (broken) stay as it is?
Revnede is placed directly in front of the noun it describes, so it must agree with the definite word denne. However, ødelagt comes after the verb er (a predicative adjective). In this position, it only needs to match the gender and number of vase. Since en vase is a singular common-gender noun, ødelagt takes the standard, uninflected form.
What purpose does the word jo serve in this sentence?
Jo is a modal particle used to show that the speaker thinks the listener already knows or can clearly see what is being stated. Here, it adds a feeling of 'as you can clearly see' or 'you know', emphasizing that the vase being ruined is an obvious fact.
Why is helt spelled with a -t at the end?
The base adjective is hel (whole). By adding a -t, it becomes an adverb (helt), meaning 'completely' or 'entirely.' It needs to be an adverb here because it describes how broken the vase is (ødelagt) rather than describing the vase itself.
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