Breakdown of Medmindre du vil have en krise, skal nødplanen være parat.
være
to be
du
you
en
a / an (common)
have
to have
ville
want to / will
skulle
to have to / must / to be going to
medmindre
unless
parat
ready (prepared)
krisen
the crisis
nødplanen
the contingency plan
Questions & Answers about Medmindre du vil have en krise, skal nødplanen være parat.
How does medmindre affect the word order in the first part of the sentence?
The word medmindre is a subordinating conjunction, meaning it starts a dependent clause. In Danish dependent clauses, the subject comes directly after the conjunction, which is why we see the straight word order du vil have rather than an inversion.
Why is the word order flipped to skal nødplanen in the second half?
This is the Danish V2 rule in action. The entire first clause (Medmindre du vil have en krise) counts as the first position of the main sentence. Therefore, the main verb skal must take the second position, pushing the subject nødplanen behind it.
Why do we need to say vil have instead of just vil for 'want'?
By itself, the modal verb vil generally means 'want to' followed by an action verb. Because a crisis is a noun rather than an action, you must add have to express that you 'want to have' it.
Can I use the word klar instead of parat?
Yes, klar and parat both translate to 'ready' and are almost always interchangeable. Parat can sometimes sound a bit more focused on active preparedness, but være klar would be completely natural here too.
Learn Medmindre du vil have en krise, skal nødplanen være parat and more in Danish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free