Word
Lykkes det for kystvagten at se nødblusset?
Meaning
Does the coast guard manage to see the distress flare?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Lykkes det for kystvagten at se nødblusset?
det
it (neuter)
se
to see / to look at
at
to
lykkes
to succeed
Questions & Answers about Lykkes det for kystvagten at se nødblusset?
Why does this sentence start with Lykkes det instead of making kystvagten the subject?
In Danish, verbs about success like lykkes (to succeed/manage) often use an impersonal structure. The grammatical subject is the dummy pronoun det. The person who is succeeding is introduced with the preposition for (here, for kystvagten), and the action they manage to do follows as an at-infinitive (at se).
Why doesn't the verb Lykkes end in an -r in the present tense?
Lykkes is an s-verb, meaning it permanently ends in an -s. Although it looks like a passive verb, it has an active meaning. Because the base form already ends in -s, we do not add an -r to form the present tense; it remains lykkes. The past tense, for reference, is lykkedes.
How does the word order work here since it is a question?
Like most Danish yes/no questions, it uses inversion: the verb comes before the subject. The trick here is remembering that the grammatical subject is the dummy pronoun det, not the coast guard. Therefore, the verb Lykkes is immediately followed by det.
How is the word nødblusset formed?
It is a compound noun made of nød (distress or emergency) and et blus (a flare or flame). Because blus has a short vowel sound followed by a single consonant, the final consonant doubles when adding the definite suffix -et, resulting in nødblusset.