Breakdown of Lige siden han var barn, har han elsket fodbold.
være
to be
han
he
barnet
the child
have
to have
elske
to love
fodbolden
football (the game)
lige siden
ever since
Questions & Answers about Lige siden han var barn, har han elsket fodbold.
Why is there no article before barn? Shouldn't it be et barn?
In Danish, when you talk about a phase of life, a role, or a profession in a general sense, you usually leave out the indefinite article. Saying han var barn focuses on the state of being a child, rather than him being one specific child.
What does lige add to siden here?
Siden simply means "since". Adding lige emphasizes it, translating directly to "ever since" or "right since". It puts extra focus on the exact starting point in the past.
Why is it har han instead of han har in the second half of the sentence?
This is a classic example of the V2 (verb-second) rule. The entire first clause (Lige siden han var barn) occupies the first position in the main sentence. Therefore, the main verb (har) must take the second position, swapping places with the subject (han).
Could we use the simple past tense (elskede) instead of the present perfect (har elsket) here?
Using elskede would imply that he loved soccer in the past but does not anymore. Because he started loving it in the past and still loves it now, Danish uses the present perfect (har elsket), functioning exactly like the English "has loved".
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