Breakdown of Vi adopterer hunde for velfærdens skyld.
hunden
the dog
vi
we
for ... skyld
for the sake of
adoptere
to adopt
Questions & Answers about Vi adopterer hunde for velfærdens skyld.
How does the construction for ... skyld affect the noun inside it?
The noun placed between for and skyld must be in the genitive (possessive) form, which means it gets an -s added to the end. In this sentence, velfærden (the welfare) becomes velfærdens so the phrase literally means for the welfare's sake.
Why is velfærdens in the definite form when the English translation just says welfare?
In Danish, broad abstract concepts like welfare, society, or nature usually take the definite form even when English leaves them indefinite. So welfare is expressed as velfærden (the welfare) before adding the possessive -s.
If I wanted to replace velfærdens with a pronoun, like for their sake, how would that work?
You would use a possessive pronoun between for and skyld. For their sake becomes for deres skyld, and for my sake becomes for min skyld. You do not add an extra -s to these possessive words.
Why is hunde indefinite here?
Because the sentence makes a general statement about adopting dogs as a category, not specific dogs that were previously discussed. If it were specific dogs, you would use the definite plural hundene.