Breakdown of Har du sat dig ind i sagen?
du
you
have
to have
sagen
the matter, the thing / the case (criminal investigation)
sætte sig ind i
to familiarize oneself with, to get into (a subject)
Questions & Answers about Har du sat dig ind i sagen?
How does the phrase sat dig ind i translate to "familiarized yourself with"?
This comes from the reflexive phrasal verb at sætte sig ind i. Literally, it means "to set oneself into" something. In Danish, this is the standard, everyday idiom used to say you are investigating, reading up on, or familiarizing yourself with a topic, system, or situation.
Since "sat" translates to the English word "sat" (from "to sit"), could I use the past participle of the Danish word for sit (siddet) here?
No, you must use sat, which is the past participle of at sætte (to set/put). The verb at sætte involves an action or movement, whereas at sidde (past participle siddet) describes a stationary state. Because the idiom is about actively "setting" your focus into a topic, it requires sætte.
Is the reflexive pronoun dig strictly necessary in this sentence?
Yes, the expression at sætte sig ind i always requires a reflexive pronoun that matches the subject (in this case, du requires dig). Without it, the sentence falls apart grammatically, or sounds like you are talking about depositing money into a bank account (at sætte penge ind).
Does sagen specifically refer to a legal case in this context?
It can, but often it doesn't. While en sag translates to a legal "case", in everyday Danish and workplace contexts it broadly means "the matter", "the issue", "the file", or "the task" at hand.
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