Learn Danish: Er den røde kjole vaskbar? - Is the red dress washable?

The suffix -bar is used just like '-able' or '-ible' in English to show that something is capable of having an action done to it. It is added to the stem of a verb. Here, we take the infinitive at vaske (to wash), remove the final -e to get the stem vask, and add -bar to make vaskbar (washable).

Since the subject is definite (den røde kjole), why isn't vaskbar also in the definite form (vaskbare)?

Adjectives only take the definite -e ending when they are placed directly before the noun (attributive), like røde in den røde kjole. Because vaskbar comes after the verb er, it acts as a statement about the noun (predicative). Predicative adjectives only agree with the gender and number of the noun. Since kjole is a singular common-gender (en) word, vaskbar takes the basic form with no extra ending.

Why is it den røde instead of den rød?

When an adjective is used directly before a noun alongside a definite article like den, det, or de, it must take the definite adjective ending. This ending is almost always -e, so the basic adjective rød becomes røde.

If I wanted to ask if multiple dresses are washable, how would vaskbar change?