Learn Danish: Sælger de kun papiret pallevis? - Do they only sell the paper by the pallet?

The suffix -vis turns the noun palle (pallet) into an adverb of quantity. Here, pallevis means "by the pallet" or "in pallets." It is a concise and highly productive way in Danish to express how things are measured, delivered, or sold.

Can I use -vis with other containers or measurements like this?

Yes! This is a very common pattern in Danish for buying or selling things in bulk. You can attach -vis to many measurement nouns, creating words like kassevis (by the box or in boxes), kilovis (by the kilo), or litervis (by the liter).

Is pallevis an adjective or an adverb here, and does it need to agree with papiret?

It functions as an adverb, describing how they sell the paper, rather than describing the paper itself. Because adverbs ending in -vis are uninflected, you never add a -t or -e to them, regardless of the gender or plurality of the nouns in the sentence.

Why is kun placed between the subject and the object here?

In a yes/no question, the verb (Sælger) comes first, followed immediately by the subject (de). Short central adverbs like kun (only), ikke (not), or altid (always) typically slot in directly after the subject in main clauses, which pushes the object (papiret) to the end of the clause.