Breakdown of Ungdommen elsker friheden hvorimod man ofte vælger trygheden i alderdommen.
i
in
elske
to love
ofte
often
man
one, you (people in general)
Questions & Answers about Ungdommen elsker friheden hvorimod man ofte vælger trygheden i alderdommen.
Why does the second part of the sentence say man ofte vælger instead of man vælger ofte?
Because hvorimod (whereas) is a subordinating conjunction, which means it starts a subordinate clause. In Danish subordinate clauses, central adverbs like ofte must always be placed before the verb. If it were a main clause, it would be man vælger ofte.
Why do words like ungdommen and friheden have the definite -en ending here? English just says 'youth' and 'freedom'.
Danish typically uses the definite form for abstract nouns (like youth, freedom, security, and old age) when making general statements about them. While English drops the definite article for these broad concepts, Danish keeps the definite suffix.
Could I use mens (while) instead of hvorimod to show this contrast?
Yes, you could say ... mens man ofte vælger ... and it would mean the exact same thing. hvorimod is just slightly more formal and is only used to show contrast, whereas mens is also used to talk about two things happening at the exact same time.
Is it grammatically correct to write this sentence without a comma before hvorimod?
Yes. Although many Danes would place a comma before hvorimod to separate the two clauses (following the traditional comma rules), the official Danish spelling rules also allow you to drop the comma before subordinate clauses. Both ways are perfectly acceptable.