Breakdown of Mænd i tresserne deltog i oprøret, ikke også?
manden
the man
også
also
i
in
ikke
not
tres
sixty
deltage
to attend / to take part, to participate
oprøret
the rebellion
Questions & Answers about Mænd i tresserne deltog i oprøret, ikke også?
How do we form 'in their sixties' from the number sixty, and why is there a double 's' in tresserne?
To express someone's age in decades, Danish uses i followed by the definite plural of the tens number. Sixty is tres. When adding the definite plural ending -erne, the s is doubled to tresserne to show that the preceding vowel sound remains short.
Why do we use the preposition i twice in this sentence?
The two instances of i serve completely different grammatical purposes. The first is part of the fixed expression for decades of age (i tresserne). The second is there because the verb at deltage (to participate) always pairs with the preposition i to express what you are participating in (deltog i oprøret).
Deltog is the past tense of at deltage. How can I easily remember its irregular forms?
Whenever a Danish verb is a compound that ends in a basic verb like at tage (to take), it usually follows that basic verb's exact conjugation. Just like tage becomes tog in the past tense, deltage becomes deltog.
The sentence ends with ikke også? to mean 'right?'. Can I just say ikke? instead?
Yes, in spoken and informal Danish, people frequently shorten this to just ikke? (often pronounced as ik'?). However, ikke også? is the standard, full phrase used in writing and clearer speech to ask for agreement, similar to 'didn't they?' or 'right?' in English.
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