Breakdown of Afblege håret må vi ikke i dag.
vi
we
ikke
not
håret
the hair
måtte
to be allowed to / must
i dag
today
afblege
to bleach
Questions & Answers about Afblege håret må vi ikke i dag.
Why is the infinitive afblege at the very beginning of the sentence?
This is called infinitive topicalization. By pulling the main action (afblege håret) to the front, you put heavy emphasis on it. It translates to something like As for bleaching the hair, we must not do that today.
Should there be an at before afblege since it is an infinitive?
No, because afblege is governed by the modal verb må (must). Modal verbs always take the bare infinitive. Even though the infinitive is moved to the front of the sentence, it keeps the exact same form it would have if it came normally after må.
Why is the subject vi placed after the verb må?
Danish strictly follows the V2 rule, meaning the conjugated verb must be the second grammatical element in a main clause. Because the entire phrase Afblege håret is fronted for focus and acts as the first position, the verb må must come second. This forces the subject vi to move after the verb.
Why does the sentence use håret instead of the possessive vores hår?
In Danish, it is standard practice to use the definite article for body parts when the owner is obvious from the context. Since the subject of the sentence is vi, it is already perfectly clear whose hair is being talked about.
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