Breakdown of Uhyret i søen skulle være meget stort.
være
to be
i
in
stor
big
søen
the lake
meget
very; much, a lot
skulle
to be said to (hearsay)
uhyret
the monster
Questions & Answers about Uhyret i søen skulle være meget stort.
Why use skulle when the translation says 'is supposed to'? Doesn't skulle usually mean 'should' or 'had to'?
You are right that skulle is the past tense of at skulle (to have to). However, Danish often uses skulle to express hearsay or unconfirmed rumors. In this context, it means 'is said to' or 'is supposed to.' It shows the speaker has heard about the monster but hasn't seen it themselves.
Does this sentence mean the monster was big in the past, since skulle is a past tense verb?
No, it actually refers to the present. Using the past tense form skulle for rumors is a way to create distance from the claim, showing uncertainty. The monster is supposed to be big right now, not just in the past.
Why is the adjective spelled stort with a T at the end?
The adjective describes uhyret (the monster). Since et uhyre is a neuter word (an et-word), the adjective takes the neuter -t ending to agree with it, becoming stort instead of stor.
How does the word uhyret break down? Is the base word uhyr?
The base word is actually et uhyre (ending in an E). To make it definite to mean 'the monster', you just add a T to the end of this neuter noun, making it uhyret.
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