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Questions & Answers about Hun gav sig til at fnise.
What exactly does the phrase gav sig til at mean here?
The phrase give sig til at (followed by an infinitive) is used to show that someone suddenly, unexpectedly, or spontaneously starts doing something. While it literally translates to 'gave oneself to', it captures the suddenness of the English 'suddenly started' or 'burst into'.
Could I just use begyndte at instead of gav sig til at?
Yes, Hun begyndte at fnise is grammatically correct and means 'She started giggling'. However, using gav sig til at adds the specific nuance that the action was spontaneous or out of the blue, which is why the English translation includes the word 'suddenly'.
Why is the reflexive pronoun sig used in this sentence?
The expression give sig til at is a fixed reflexive phrase. The pronoun must change to match the subject. Because the subject is the third-person Hun, we use sig. If the subject were 'I' instead, the sentence would be Jeg gav mig til at fnise.
Why are both til and at right next to each other before the verb?
They serve two different grammatical functions here. The word til is a fixed preposition belonging to the expression give sig til. Because the action that follows is a verb in the infinitive form, it still requires its normal infinitive marker at right before fnise.