Word
På trods af at vinden blæser, kvidrer spurven højt i træet om morgenen.
Meaning
Despite the fact that the wind is blowing, the sparrow chirps loudly in the tree in the morning.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of På trods af at vinden blæser, kvidrer spurven højt i træet om morgenen.
i
in
træet
the tree
blæse
to blow (the wind; with the mouth)
om
in, at (with times of day)
Questions & Answers about På trods af at vinden blæser, kvidrer spurven højt i træet om morgenen.
Why are the adverbs ordered højt i træet om morgenen? Can I change the order?
This perfectly illustrates the Danish M-P-T rule for the end-field of a sentence: Manner, Place, Time. First comes how it happens (højt - loudly), then where (i træet - in the tree), and finally when (om morgenen - in the morning). Changing this order sounds unnatural in Danish, even though English is sometimes more flexible.
Why is it kvidrer spurven instead of spurven kvidrer?
This is a classic example of the V2 (verb-second) rule. The entire subordinate clause at the start, På trods af at vinden blæser, counts as the first position. Therefore, the main clause's verb (kvidrer) must take position two, pushing the subject (spurven) to position three.
Why is at necessary in the phrase På trods af at?
På trods af means "despite" and can only be followed by a noun phrase, such as på trods af regnen (despite the rain). Because the following part is a full clause with its own subject and verb (vinden blæser), you must add the conjunction at (that) to connect them.
Why does the word højt end with a -t here?