Questions & Answers about Dilemmaet viser hende at intet er helt retfærdigt.
How does the Weight Principle explain the placement of hende and the at clause?
The Weight Principle states that 'heavy' sentence elements are pushed to the end. Here, the indirect object is a single, 'light' pronoun (hende), so it stays close to the verb. The direct object is an entire subordinate clause (at intet er helt retfærdigt), making it 'heavy', so it is naturally pushed to the very end of the main clause.
Why does the adjective retfærdigt end in -t?
It must agree with the subject of its specific clause, which is intet (nothing). Because intet functions as a neuter pronoun, the adjective modifying it takes the neuter -t ending.
Could I use ingenting instead of intet for 'nothing' here?
Grammatically yes, but intet is a better stylistic fit. While both mean 'nothing', intet is slightly more formal and is often preferred in writing or when discussing abstract concepts like a dilemma or fairness. ingenting is more common in spoken, everyday Danish for concrete things.
Why does the word helt end in -t here?
In this sentence, helt is functioning as an adverb of degree meaning 'completely' or 'entirely', modifying the adjective retfærdigt. When you turn an adjective like hel (whole) into an adverb in Danish, you typically add a -t.