Breakdown of Når hun er træt, vil hun ikke længere kvitte uvanen.
være
to be
hun
she
ikke
not
træt
tired
ville
want to / will
når
when
længere
longer; any longer (with a negative)
kvitte
to quit (a habit)
uvanen
the bad habit
Questions & Answers about Når hun er træt, vil hun ikke længere kvitte uvanen.
Why do we use ikke længere here instead of ikke mere?
Both mean "no longer" or "not anymore", but their placement differs. Ikke længere acts as a central adverb, so it sits in the middle of the clause right after the finite verb and subject. Ikke mere usually goes at the very end of the sentence. If we used ikke mere, the sentence would be: Når hun er træt, vil hun ikke kvitte uvanen mere.
Why is it vil hun and not hun vil in the main clause?
This is the V2 (verb-second) rule. The entire first position of the sentence is taken up by the subordinate clause Når hun er træt. Because the verb must come second, the main clause has to start with the finite verb vil, followed immediately by the subject hun.
Doesn't vil mean "will" in the future tense?
While vil can sometimes express the future, its primary meaning is "wants to". Here, hun vil ikke længere kvitte uvanen means she no longer wants to quit it. English speakers often fall into the trap of reading it as "will not quit", but Danish uses vil strongly for intention.
How is the word uvanen built?
It comes from the noun en vane (a habit). The prefix u- is used in Danish to indicate the opposite or a negative version of a word. So en uvane is a bad habit, and adding the definite suffix -n gives us uvanen (the bad habit).
Why is there no at before kvitte?
Kvitte (to quit) follows the modal verb vil. Just like in English, Danish modal verbs take the bare infinitive of the following action verb, meaning you must drop the infinitive marker at.
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