Word
Den gamle mand er kraftig nok til at udholde anstrengelsen.
Meaning
The old man is sturdy enough to endure the exertion.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Den gamle mand er kraftig nok til at udholde anstrengelsen.
være
to be
manden
the man
den
the (common, before adjective)
gammel
old
Questions & Answers about Den gamle mand er kraftig nok til at udholde anstrengelsen.
Why do we use til at instead of just at before the infinitive udholde?
In Danish, when you use nok to express that an adjective's intensity leads to a specific action, it must be followed by the preposition til. Because Danish prepositions cannot take a bare infinitive directly, you must include at, creating the fixed pattern nok til at (enough to).
Why is the adjective gamle instead of gammel here?
This is a refresher on Danish double definiteness. When a noun phrase starts with a definite article like Den, the adjective must take the definite -e ending. Note that gammel is slightly irregular: it drops the internal e when adding the ending, becoming gamle.
Does kraftig always mean strong or sturdy?
Not always. While it means physically strong or robust in this context, kraftig is also frequently used in everyday Danish as a polite euphemism for being overweight, heavy-set, or stout. The context of enduring an exertion (udholde anstrengelsen) clarifies that it means physically sturdy here.
How does the meaning change from holde to udholde?
The base verb holde means to hold or to keep. By adding the prefix ud- (out), it literally becomes to hold out against something. This translates to enduring, bearing, or withstanding a difficult situation or effort.