Learn Danish: Manden tager badekåben af før han går ind i saunaen. - The man takes off his bathrobe before he goes into the sauna.

Manden tager badekåben af før han går ind i saunaen.

The man takes off his bathrobe before he goes into the sauna.

Breakdown of Manden tager badekåben af før han går ind i saunaen.

to take / to make (a decision)

Questions & Answers about Manden tager badekåben af før han går ind i saunaen.

Why does the Danish sentence use badekåben (the bathrobe) when the English translation says "his bathrobe"?

In Danish, when you talk about clothing or body parts and the owner is obvious from the context, you typically use the definite article (the suffix -en or -et) instead of a possessive pronoun like sin or hans. Because the man is taking it off, it is clearly his own bathrobe.

Could we use sin badekåbe here instead?

You could, and it wouldn't be strictly wrong, but it sounds less natural. Danish prefers to drop the possessive pronoun for personal items like clothing when the subject is performing an action on themselves. Using sin would put an unusual emphasis on the fact that it is his bathrobe and not someone else's.

Why are tager and af separated by the word badekåben?

The verb at tage af (to take off) is a separable verb. In a main clause, the verb (tager) stays in the V2 (verb-second) position, but the small adverb or preposition, called a particle (af), often moves after the object (badekåben).

Why is it går ind i saunaen and not just går i saunaen?

Adding ind emphasizes the physical movement from the outside to the inside of the room. While går i saunaen can be used generally for the activity of using a sauna, går ind i saunaen paints a specific picture of him crossing the threshold into the room.