Breakdown of Faren fik udskiftet vandhanen af blikkenslageren.
faren
the father
få
to get, to receive / to have (children)
af
by (agent of a passive)
udskifte
to replace (substitute, exchange)
vandhanen
the faucet
blikkenslageren
the plumber
Questions & Answers about Faren fik udskiftet vandhanen af blikkenslageren.
Why do we use fik udskiftet instead of just udskiftede?
Using få + a past participle (here, fik udskiftet) shows that the subject arranged for the action to happen, rather than doing it themselves. If you said Faren udskiftede vandhanen, it means the father did the physical work himself. This is the Danish equivalent of the English structure 'had something done.'
Why is the object (vandhanen) placed after the verb (udskiftet) when in English we say 'had the faucet replaced'?
In Danish, it is standard to keep the two parts of the verb phrase together in this construction. So you say fik udskiftet (verb + verb) followed by the object vandhanen. While you might occasionally hear the English word order (fik vandhanen udskiftet), keeping the verbs together is the most natural choice in Danish.
Why is the preposition af used here?
The preposition af translates to 'by' and is used to introduce the agent of an action, just like in a passive sentence. Even though the father is the active subject who arranged the repair, the actual physical replacement was performed af blikkenslageren (by the plumber).
Does the structure få + past participle always mean you had someone else do the work?
Not always. While here it clearly means delegating the task, this structure is also frequently used to express that you finally 'managed to' do something yourself after some effort or delay. For example, Jeg fik skrevet opgaven means 'I managed to get the assignment written'. The context usually makes it obvious which meaning applies.
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