Breakdown of Huset er ikke egnet til en stor familie.
huset
the house
en
a / an (common)
familien
the family
ikke
not
stor
big
være egnet til
to be suitable for, to be fit for
Questions & Answers about Huset er ikke egnet til en stor familie.
Why doesn't egnet take a neuter -t ending to agree with the neuter noun Huset?
Because egnet already ends in -et. In Danish, adjectives that end in -et (which are often past participles) do not take an extra -t when modifying a neuter noun, as that would create an awkward double ending.
Why use the preposition til instead of for when translating the English phrase 'suitable for'?
The phrase 'suitable for' translates to the fixed expression egnet til in Danish. While for can sometimes indicate who benefits from something, til is the standard choice here because it points to a specific purpose, use, or intended target group.
Is it possible to move ikke to the end of this sentence?
No. In a standard main clause like this, the adverb ikke must come immediately after the finite verb (er). Danish strictly follows the V2 (verb-second) rule, so placing ikke at the end of the sentence is grammatically incorrect.
How could I express this exact same idea using a negative prefix instead of the word ikke?
You can use the adjective uegnet, which means unsuitable. The sentence would then be Huset er uegnet til en stor familie. This is a very natural and common alternative in Danish.
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