Breakdown of Hun har ondt i knæet efter turen.
hun
she
turen
the trip
efter
after
have ondt i
to have a pain in
Questions & Answers about Hun har ondt i knæet efter turen.
Why does it use "knæet" (the knee) instead of "hendes knæ" (her knee)?
In Danish, when it is obvious that a body part belongs to the subject of the sentence, you usually use the definite form (like knæet) rather than a possessive pronoun like hendes. It literally translates to "She has pain in the knee."
How does the phrase "har ondt i" work?
The phrase har ondt i is the standard way to express that you have a pain in a specific body part. You don't use the direct translation for "pain" (smerte) here. Instead, ondt acts as an adjective meaning bad or painful, followed by i (in) and the body part.
Could I say "Hendes knæ gør ondt" instead?
Yes, you can! Hendes knæ gør ondt (Her knee hurts) is grammatically correct and perfectly natural. However, the structure har ondt i used in this sentence is extremely common and an essential Danish idiom to master.
Does "turen" specifically mean a walk?
The word en tur is very versatile and can mean a trip, a ride, a walk, or a tour. In this sentence, efter turen translates to "after the walk" based on the context, but it could just as easily mean "after the bike ride" or "after the trip" if they had been doing something else.