Breakdown of Da helgner ofte var fattige, gav ridderen dem sine egne penge.
være
to be
sin
his/her/its own (common)
ofte
often
dem
them
pengene
the money
give
to give
fattig
poor
egen
own
da
since (because)
helgenen
the saint
ridderen
the knight
Questions & Answers about Da helgner ofte var fattige, gav ridderen dem sine egne penge.
Why does the word for saints drop an 'e' to become helgner?
The singular form is helgen. For many nouns ending in an unstressed -en, the unstressed e is dropped from the stem before adding the plural suffix. Instead of keeping the full stem, the word shrinks to helgn- and takes the regular plural ending -er, merging into helgner. This dropping of the vowel is known as syncopation.
Why is the word order ofte var instead of var ofte in the first half of the sentence?
The first half is a subordinate clause triggered by the conjunction Da (since). In Danish subordinate clauses, the rule is that central adverbs like ofte (often) must come before the verb. So the subject helgner is followed by the adverb ofte, and then the verb var.
Why does the main clause say gav ridderen (gave the knight) rather than ridderen gav?
This is the V2 (verb-second) rule in action. The entire subordinate clause (Da helgner ofte var fattige) occupies the first position in the sentence. To keep the main verb in the strict second position, the verb gav must come immediately after the comma, followed by its subject ridderen.
Why use sine instead of hans for 'his'?
Because the knight is giving his own money, we must use the reflexive possessive pronoun. If the sentence used hans, it would mean the knight was giving away some other man's money. We use the plural form sine (rather than sin or sit) because the Danish word for money, penge, is always a plural noun.
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