Breakdown of Der er plads til fire personer i bilen.
bilen
the car
i
in
fire
four
til
to (preposition) / for (purpose) / at (an event or occasion) / at (good at something)
der er
there is, there are
personen
the person (an individual)
Questions & Answers about Der er plads til fire personer i bilen.
Why do we use the preposition til instead of for after plads?
In Danish, when you want to say room for or space for someone or something, the fixed expression is plads til. Using for here would sound unnatural to a native speaker.
Why is there no article before plads?
Here, plads is used as an uncountable noun meaning space or room. If you said en plads, it would mean a specific seat or spot, which would make it sound like there is one single seat meant to be shared by four people.
Could I use mennesker instead of personer in this sentence?
It is much more natural to use personer here. When talking about the physical capacity of a vehicle or a room, Danish prefers personer to count specific individuals. Mennesker is used for human beings in a broader, more general sense.
Why do we say i bilen but use på for other types of transport?
In Danish, you use i for smaller, private vehicles like a car or a taxi. You switch to på for larger public transport where you can usually stand up and walk around, such as a train, bus, or airplane.
Learn Der er plads til fire personer i bilen and more in Danish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free