Word
De sultne drenge er ikke stærke nok til at slæbe byrden alene.
Meaning
The hungry boys are not strong enough to drag the burden alone.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of De sultne drenge er ikke stærke nok til at slæbe byrden alene.
være
to be
drengen
the boy
ikke
not
sulten
hungry
Questions & Answers about De sultne drenge er ikke stærke nok til at slæbe byrden alene.
Why does nok come after stærke, and why do we need til at before the verb?
In Danish, when expressing that someone has a sufficient degree of a quality to do something, nok (enough) directly follows the adjective. To connect this to the consequence or action, you must use til at followed by the infinitive verb (slæbe). This maps well to English grammar, but remember that the preposition til is strictly required here to bridge the adjective and the verb.
Why is the adjective stærke used instead of stærk?
Adjectives in Danish must agree in number with the noun they describe, even when they are placed after the verb. Because the subject De sultne drenge is plural, the adjective stærk must take its plural ending to become stærke.
As a quick refresher, why is the subject written as De sultne drenge instead of using the definite noun suffix, like Sultne drengene?
Whenever a definite noun is modified by an adjective, Danish requires a specific structure rather than the normal suffix. You must use the freestanding plural definite article De, the adjective with its plural ending (sultne), and the basic plural form of the noun (drenge).
What is the exact nuance of slæbe compared to a general word like bære?