Breakdown of Siden købmanden malede facaden, har den set ny ud.
den
it (common)
have
to have
ny
new
male
to paint
se ud
to look (appear)
siden
since (time)
købmanden
the grocer
facaden
the facade
Questions & Answers about Siden købmanden malede facaden, har den set ny ud.
Can siden also mean "because" here, just like "since" does in English?
No. In English, "since" can express both time and reason, but in Danish, siden is strictly used for time. If you wanted to say "since the grocer painted it" as a reason (meaning "because he painted it"), you would need to use words like eftersom or fordi.
Why is the word order har den instead of den har in the second part of the sentence?
This is because of the V2 (verb-second) rule. The entire subordinate clause Siden købmanden malede facaden acts as the first piece of information in the main sentence. To keep the main verb in the second position, har must swap places with the subject den.
What is the word ud doing at the very end of the sentence?
It belongs to the verb at se. Together, the phrasal verb at se ud means "to look" or "to appear". Without ud, the sentence would literally mean the building has physically used its eyes to see something new.
Why does the sentence use den and ny instead of det and nyt?
These words refer back to facaden (the facade). Because en facade is a common-gender noun, it gets replaced by the pronoun den (it), and any adjectives describing it must take the matching common-gender form ny.
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