Breakdown of Manden kan ikke løfte håndvægten medmindre du hjælper ham.
du
you
manden
the man
ikke
not
hjælpe
to help
ham
him
kunne
to be able to / can
løfte
to lift
medmindre
unless
håndvægten
the dumbbell
Questions & Answers about Manden kan ikke løfte håndvægten medmindre du hjælper ham.
Is medmindre treated as one word or two, and what kind of clause does it introduce?
It is written as one word (medmindre) and acts as a subordinating conjunction meaning 'unless'. This means the clause that follows it, du hjælper ham, is a subordinate clause.
Notice where ikke is placed in the main clause. If we added an adverb like altid (always) after medmindre, where would it go?
It would go before the verb: medmindre du altid hjælper ham. Because medmindre starts a subordinate clause, it follows the rule that central adverbs are placed between the subject and the verb. This contrasts with the main clause, Manden kan ikke, where the adverb comes after the first verb.
How do we know the grammatical gender of a compound word like håndvægten?
The word håndvægt is made up of hånd (hand) and vægt (weight). In Danish compound nouns, the gender is always determined by the final noun. Since it is en vægt (common gender), the compound is en håndvægt, which takes the common gender ending to become håndvægten in the definite form.
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