Breakdown of For det første er lejligheden for dyr.
være
to be
lejligheden
the apartment
for
too
dyr
expensive
Questions & Answers about For det første er lejligheden for dyr.
Why is it er lejligheden instead of lejligheden er?
Danish uses the V2 rule, meaning the verb must be the second main element in a main clause. Because the sentence starts with the phrase For det første (Firstly), the verb er must come next, followed by the subject lejligheden.
How is the phrase For det første constructed?
It translates to "firstly" or "for one thing". It literally means "for the first", using the neuter definite article det with the ordinal number første. You can follow this up with for det andet (secondly) when making a list of arguments.
The word for appears twice in this sentence. Do they mean the same thing?
No, they have different functions here. The first For is a preposition used in the set phrase For det første. The second for is an adverb meaning "too" (as in excessively), modifying the adjective dyr to mean "too expensive".
Why is the adjective dyr not spelled with an -e or -t at the end?
The adjective must agree with the noun it describes. Because lejligheden (the apartment) is a singular common-gender noun (an en word), the adjective takes its basic form, dyr. If it were a neuter et word like huset, it would be dyrt, and if plural, it would be dyre.