Den lange tunnel under floden er blevet anlagt.
The long tunnel under the river has been constructed.
Breakdown of Den lange tunnel under floden er blevet anlagt.
være
to be
lang
long / far (distance)
den
the (common, before adjective)
under
under, below
floden
the river
blive
to be (passive auxiliary)
tunnelen
the tunnel
anlægge
to construct
Questions & Answers about Den lange tunnel under floden er blevet anlagt.
Why does the sentence use er blevet instead of har blevet for 'has been'?
In Danish, verbs describing a change of state use være (to be) as their helping verb rather than have. Since blive means 'to become', its present perfect form is er blevet (literally 'is become'). This is the standard way to form the present perfect passive in Danish.
What is the infinitive of anlagt, and why is it used here instead of a word like bygget (built)?
The infinitive is at anlægge. While bygge is typically used for vertical structures like houses and buildings, anlægge is used for horizontal infrastructure that is 'laid out' across an area, such as roads, parks, railways, and tunnels.
Why is there an -e on the end of lange when there is only one tunnel?
This is a reminder of definite adjective declension. Whenever an adjective comes between a definite front article like den (the) and a noun, the adjective must take the definite -e ending, regardless of whether the noun is singular or plural.
How can I tell if tunnel is an en-word or an et-word just by looking at this sentence?
You can tell it is an en-word (en tunnel) because the sentence begins with the common-gender article den. If it were a neuter et-word, the sentence would have started with det.
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