Breakdown of Hun fødte en lille pige i nat.
hun
she
en
a / an (common)
pigen
the girl
i
in
lille
small
natten
the night
føde
to give birth (to)
Questions & Answers about Hun fødte en lille pige i nat.
Why is there no preposition after fødte, like the "to" in "gave birth to"?
In Danish, at føde is a transitive verb, meaning it takes a direct object right after it without needing a preposition. You can think of it as directly translating to "birthed". So, instead of saying "she gave birth to a girl", you literally say "she birthed a girl" (hun fødte en pige).
How do we know i nat means "last night" and not "tonight"?
The time reference of i nat depends entirely on the tense of the main verb. Because fødte is in the past tense, i nat refers to the night that just passed ("last night"). If the verb were referring to the present or future, such as hun arbejder i nat (she is working tonight), the phrase would mean "tonight".
Is lille always spelled this way for singular nouns, regardless of gender?
Yes. The adjective lille (little/small) is irregular. Unlike regular adjectives that add a -t when describing neuter words (et-words), lille remains exactly the same for both en and et words in the singular. Just remember that if the noun becomes plural, you must switch to the plural form: små.
Does the verb at føde share a root with the English word "feed"?
Yes, they are cognates. In Danish, at føde can also mean "to feed" or "to nourish" in certain contexts (you will often see this root in the noun fødevarer, meaning "foodstuffs"). However, when talking about humans and offspring, it translates as "to give birth".
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