Breakdown of Hun var den første kvindelige pilot i landet.
være
to be
hun
she
i
in
landet
the country
den
the (common, before adjective)
første
first
piloten
the pilot
kvindelig
female (adjective)
Questions & Answers about Hun var den første kvindelige pilot i landet.
Why is it kvindelige with an -e at the end, instead of just kvindelig?
In Danish, when an adjective comes after a definite article like den, it must take the definite ending, which is usually -e. Because it is part of the definite phrase den første, the adjective kvindelig becomes kvindelige.
Since the English translation says the pilot, why doesn't the Danish sentence use piloten?
When you have an adjective before a definite noun, Danish uses the independent article den or det and drops the noun's suffix. You only use the -en suffix if there is no adjective, like in piloten. With adjectives, it becomes den første kvindelige pilot, not den første kvindelige piloten.
What is the difference between i landet and på landet?
This is a very important distinction! I landet, as used in this sentence, means in the country referring to a nation or state. If you used the preposition på to say på landet, it would completely change the meaning to in the countryside or rural areas.
How does the suffix -lig work in the word kvindelige?
The suffix -lig is added to the root noun kvinde (woman) to create an adjective describing a quality or characteristic. It works a lot like the English suffixes -ly or -ish, turning woman into female or womanly.
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