Word
Har hun kunnet indhente holdet uden at skynde sig?
Meaning
Has she been able to catch up with the team without hurrying?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Har hun kunnet indhente holdet uden at skynde sig?
How does the compound tense har kunnet indhente work in this sentence?
This is the present perfect tense of a modal verb, which is the focus of this lesson. It uses the auxiliary verb har (has), the past participle of the modal verb kunnet (been able to), and the bare infinitive of the main verb indhente (catch up). Notice how Danish places the past participle of the modal right before the main verb.
Why do we use at skynde instead of an -ing form like in the English translation without hurrying?
Danish does not use an -ing form (gerund) after prepositions. Instead, when a preposition like uden (without) is followed by an action, you must use the infinitive marker at plus the bare infinitive verb.
Why is sig used at the end of the sentence?
The verb at skynde sig (to hurry) is a reflexive verb in Danish. This means it requires a reflexive pronoun that matches the person doing the action. Since the implied subject of the hurrying is hun (she), the correct third-person reflexive pronoun is sig.
What is the literal makeup of the word indhente?
It is a compound verb made from ind (in) and hente (fetch or get). Together, they form indhente, which means to catch up with someone or something, either physically as in this sentence, or metaphorically like catching up on work or sleep.