Breakdown of Dette er den tredje længste rørledning i verden.
være
to be
i
in
lang
long / far (distance)
den
the (common, before adjective)
tredje
third
dette
this (neuter)
verden
the world
rørledningen
the pipeline
Questions & Answers about Dette er den tredje længste rørledning i verden.
How does the grammar work when combining an ordinal number like tredje with a superlative like længste?
In Danish, you place the ordinal number right before the superlative adjective. Because we are using the definite article den, the superlative adjective must take its definite form, which ends in -e (længste, not længst). This construction perfectly mirrors the English "the third longest".
Since rørledning is a common gender noun (en rørledning), why does the sentence start with the neuter pronoun Dette instead of Denne?
When "this" is used independently as an introductory subject with the verb to be (er), Danish defaults to the neuter singular form (dette or det), regardless of the actual noun's gender. You only use Denne if the pronoun is attached directly to the noun, as in Denne rørledning er lang (This pipeline is long).
Why doesn't rørledning have the definite suffix -en attached to it here?
This is due to how Danish handles definite noun phrases with adjectives. When you use the independent definite article (den) along with an adjective phrase (tredje længste), the noun itself must remain in its base, uninflected form. So it is den tredje længste rørledning, never den tredje længste rørledningen.
What words make up the compound noun rørledning?
It is formed from rør, meaning pipe or tube, and ledning, meaning line, wire, or conduit. Together they literally form "pipe-line".
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