Breakdown of Børnene fik hver især en gave.
en
a / an (common)
barnet
the child
få
to get, to receive / to have (children)
gaven
the present, the gift
Questions & Answers about Børnene fik hver især en gave.
What exactly does hver især mean here, and how is it different from just using hver?
The phrase hver især translates to "each" or "individually." While you could just say Børnene fik hver en gave, adding især strongly emphasizes that they got one individually, separate from the rest of the group. It highlights the individual distribution of the presents.
I know that især usually means "especially." Does this sentence imply the children were specially chosen to get a present?
No, it doesn't. While især on its own means "especially" or "particularly," the combination hver især is a fixed idiom in Danish meaning "each individually" or "each one." When you see them together like this, the usual meaning of især no longer applies.
Since there are multiple children, why is gave in the singular (en gave) rather than the plural (gaver)?
Because hver især focuses on what each single child received on an individual basis. Just like in English where we say "each got a present" rather than "each got presents," Danish uses the singular en gave to clarify that exactly one present went to each individual child.
Could I move hver især to the beginning of the sentence?
Yes, you can say Hver især fik børnene en gave if you want to place a very strong emphasis on the fact that it was done individually. Remember that doing so triggers the V2 rule, meaning the verb fik must swap places with the subject børnene. However, placing it after the verb, as in the original sentence, is the most natural and common word order.