Breakdown of Er den nye telefon virkelig så brugervenlig som han påstår?
være
to be
han
he
telefonen
the phone
den
the (common, before adjective)
ny
new
så
then, so
påstå
to claim
som
as (in comparisons)
virkelig
really, truly
brugervenlig
user-friendly
Questions & Answers about Er den nye telefon virkelig så brugervenlig som han påstår?
This lesson focuses on knap så. How would the meaning change if we added knap to this sentence?
If you changed it to Er den nye telefon virkelig knap så brugervenlig som han påstår?, you would be asking: "Is the new phone really not quite as (or less) user-friendly as he claims?". The phrase så [adjective] som means "as [adjective] as", while adding knap scales the degree down to "not quite as".
Why does the adjective ny have an -e at the end here (nye), even though telefon is singular?
Because it is preceded by the definite article den. In Danish, whenever an adjective is used with a definite article (den, det, or de) or a possessive pronoun (like min or hans), it must take its "weak" form. For almost all adjectives, including ny, the weak form ends in -e.
Is brugervenlig a common type of word construction in Danish?
Yes, absolutely. Just like in English, you can attach -venlig (-friendly) to the end of many nouns to create an adjective. Here it's bruger (user) + venlig (friendly). Another very common example at your level is miljøvenlig (environmentally friendly / eco-friendly).
Could I use ligesom instead of som to mean "as" in this sentence?
No. When you are making a direct comparison using the så [adjective]... structure, the second "as" must always be som. Ligesom translates better to "just like" or "in the same way as", and is used to compare actions or situations rather than degrees of an adjective.
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