Breakdown of Jeg ved ikke hvorvidt det er nogens madkasse.
jeg
I
være
to be
det
it (neuter)
ikke
not
vide
to know
hvorvidt
whether (formal)
nogens
someone's
madkassen
the lunchbox
Questions & Answers about Jeg ved ikke hvorvidt det er nogens madkasse.
How do we form the genitive for 'nogen', and does it change depending on the gender of the noun?
You simply add an -s to make it nogens (someone's). Unlike possessive pronouns such as min or mit, nogens does not change based on whether the owned noun (madkasse) is an en-word or et-word. It remains exactly the same.
Could I use om instead of hvorvidt in this sentence?
Yes, absolutely. Both words can mean 'whether', but hvorvidt is more formal and often used in writing or careful speech. In everyday conversation, Danes would almost always say om det er nogens madkasse.
If I wanted to add the adverb overhovedet (at all) to the second half of the sentence, where would it go?
It would go between the subject (det) and the verb (er), making it hvorvidt det overhovedet er nogens madkasse. This is because the second half is a subordinate clause, and in subordinate clauses, central adverbs must come before the verb.
How do I know the gender of a compound word like madkasse?
The gender of a Danish compound noun is almost always determined by its final part. The word consists of mad (food) and kasse (box). Because it is en kasse, the combined word is also common gender: en madkasse.
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