Breakdown of Værket de købte, er nu en del af samlingen.
være
to be
en
a / an (common)
de
they
nu
now
købe
to buy
af
of
delen
the part
værket
the work (of art, literature)
samlingen
the collection
Questions & Answers about Værket de købte, er nu en del af samlingen.
Why is there no word for 'that' between Værket and de købte?
Just like in English, you can leave out the relative pronoun som (that) when it acts as the object of the relative clause. Since 'they' are doing the buying, 'the work' is the object. You could absolutely say Værket som de købte, but dropping som is very common and natural in both Danish and English.
Why is there a comma after købte but not before de?
Danish rules dictate that you must place a comma at the end of a subordinate clause to separate it from the rest of the sentence. Here, de købte is the subordinate clause. While older or traditional comma rules would also put a comma before de, the widely used modern rules omit that starting comma, leaving only the ending comma right before the main verb er.
Why is it Værket and not Værken?
The noun et værk (a work, such as a piece of art or literature) is a neuter noun, or an et-word. To make it definite and say 'the work', you attach the neuter ending -et to the end of the noun, creating Værket.
Is en del af a fixed phrase?
Yes, en del af translates directly to 'a part of' or 'a deal of' and is used exactly as it is in English. You will see this combination constantly when talking about something belonging to a larger whole, in this case, samlingen (the collection).
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