Breakdown of Mon ikke hun er kompatibel med sin sjæleven?
være
to be
hun
she
ikke
not
sin
his/her/its own (common)
med
with; by (bus, train) / of, to (the meaning or point of something)
mon
I wonder if
kompatibel
compatible
sjælevennen
the soulmate
Questions & Answers about Mon ikke hun er kompatibel med sin sjæleven?
Why is the word order hun er instead of er hun, since this sentence ends in a question mark?
Even though the sentence acts as a question, mon ikke (meaning "surely" or "I bet") is followed by normal declarative main clause word order (Subject-Verb). You can think of mon as a remnant of an old expression meaning "I wonder", making the rest of the sentence function as a statement of your assumption.
How does mon ikke translate to "surely" here instead of its literal meaning?
Literally, mon ikke means something like "I wonder if not". When you say "I wonder if she isn't compatible..." you are actually expressing a confident assumption that she is. In Danish, this is the standard, natural way to express "surely," "I bet," or "I strongly suspect."
Why is sin used here instead of hendes for "her"?
Because the soulmate belongs to the subject of the sentence (hun). In Danish, if a third-person subject is interacting with their own possession or relation, you must use the reflexive possessive sin (or sit/sine). If you used hendes here, it would mean she is compatible with some other woman's soulmate!
How is the word sjæleven constructed, and why does it take sin rather than sit?
It is a direct equivalent to the English "soulmate," combining sjæl (soul) and ven (friend). The gender of a compound noun always comes from its final part. Since en ven is a common gender noun, the compound is also common gender, requiring the common gender pronoun sin.
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